Playing With the Lights Off
by thechickening
Summary: Piper starts high school with zero confidence and zero friends. Will joining the soccer team be the trick to an actual enjoyable high school experience? Completely AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

 **Not 100% sure where I want to take this yet but the idea was floating around in my head. Leave a review and let me know what you thought to make my day :) I'll continue depending on the response.**

Nervous didn't even begin to describe how Piper felt stepping off the old school bus onto the worn sidewalk outside of her new high school. Attending private school had been great. From preschool through middle school she was able to learn at her own accelerated pace. Her teachers were kind and always answered questions in depth, and she had the same classmates since she was 3 years old and they were all best friends. The only problem that there was no private high school in the area.

So here she was, about to walk into the first public school she had ever step foot in, not knowing anybody except her older brother, Danny. The school districts were broken up by location and she wasn't able to attend the same school as any of her childhood friends. Danny had made it clear that since he was a senior and sat with the jocks at lunch that she wasn't welcome at his normal table in the cafeteria, but he said he would introduce her to some of the football players girlfriends.

14 year old Piper Chapman was a nervous wreck. The bus ride had been an awful start to the day. The students in the front were talking about advanced physics that was way over her head. The kids in the back were swearing and shouting and tampering with lighters, increasing the flame size until they were essentially flamethrowers. She sat somewhere near the middle, leaning her head against the window and resting her arm on the metal bar against the side of the bus. At one point she felt a sharp jolt starting at her elbow and tingling through the tips of her fingers. She whipped her head around and saw an older boy with long hair and looked exactly like a depiction of a stoner in a movie. He had a creepy grin on his face and was holding a disposable camera that had been MacGyvered into some sort of taser.

She felt her chest swelling with sheer panic as her new classmates brushed past her in a hurry to see their friends. She pulled out her crumpled schedule and remembered that her first class was Geometry. Most students her age were in Algebra but private schooling had given her a leg up and she was taking a class meant for Sophomores. She walked through the maze of students, frequently looking back at her schedule even though she had already memorized the room number.

The seating was assigned so she thankfully was able to avoid the awkward new-girl-can't-find-a-seat scenario that she had seen so many times when she watched _Mean Girls._ She was seated next to a skinny girl with brown hair who she learned was named Danielle when the teacher took role. It was weird to have to be checked off a list when her entire life her teachers had known her on a first name basis. The class was easy and the teacher was nice. When they broke into groups to do a worksheet she was paired with Danielle and another boy whose name she learned was Spencer. The two must have been friends because they spent the whole time joking around instead of doing their work. Piper was focused on the worksheet when she was interrupted by Spencer.

"Look she's actually doing the worksheet." He sounded like this was unheard of and she heard Danielle giggle. "What's your name?"

"Piper." Her voice came out strangled and she realized she hadn't spoken since she first woke up. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Piper."

Spencer looked her up and down before continuing.

"You know, she doesn't even check if we finish these. She just gives us these worksheets so she can check her email."

"Oh..." Piper felt dumb when she looked around and noticed that she was the only one doing the worksheet.

"So what classes are you taking, _Piper_?" It kind of sounded like he was taunting her but his face looked friendly.

"Umm... World Geography, Spanish 3, English, and P.E." She squinted her eyes trying to remember if that was all of her classes but was pretty sure she didn't miss anything.

"Nice, you got P.E. 5th period, that's the best time to take it. Wait, Spanish 3? What grade are you in?"

"Uhh, I'm a freshman." She figured this would cause them to lose interest in her, the nervous 14 year old that was nerdy enough to be in Geometry and Spanish 3.

"Wow, that's pretty crazy. You must be super smart." Danielle spoke up, sounding pretty impressed.

"I uhh, I went to private school and they taught me a lot of Spanish." Strike 2, now they knew she was a private school kid.

"Wow, really? I thought kids that went to private school were all weird." Spencer was implying that she wasn't weird, so she figured that was a good start. Danielle punched his arm.

"Spencer is kind of an asshole sometimes. So do you like, not know anybody at all then?"

"No... I mean my brother goes here but he's a senior. His name is Danny."

"Oh." This was the only response from Danielle and Piper regretted saying anything at all.

They turned their attention back to the board where the teacher was now standing and talking about triangles. The class ended and Spencer and Danielle told her they would see her around.

Her Geography class wasn't too bad, the teacher was an old hippie who seemed really cool. It went by fast too, mostly because he talked the whole time and didn't force her to interact with the people around her.

Spanish was interesting.

She had to sit in the back because it took her so long to find the class. She knew she should probably be in AP Spanish because she was practically fluent at this point, but didn't want to stress out too much in her first year.

They were paired into groups of two and instructed to get to know their partner using only Spanish. She was paired with Alex. Alex was tall enough that even from her slouched position in the desk she was taller than most of the class. Her hair was dark and pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head, stray strands held back by her black glasses. She was wearing grey sweats that were folded over at the waistband and a tight white tee shirt. She must have been a junior or senior as the younger kids always dressed up and wore too much makeup on the first day, while Alex just had simple winged eyeliner decorating her face. She definitely gave off that _I don't give a fuck_ vibe.

"So what's your name?" Alex was speaking in English so Piper responded in English as well, not wanting to make it awkward.

"My name's Piper. What's yours?" She already knew since when the teacher paired them up she looked at Piper and told her to be partners with Alex. She just wanted to keep conversation flowing, even though she had no hopes of becoming friends with someone so much older than her.

"Alex. Didn't she just say that?" Alex smiled at her amusedly.

"Oh. Uhh, yeah I guess I already knew that." Alex let out a short laugh at this but it didn't feel like she was mocking her, just entertained.

"You seem a little young to be in Spanish 3. How old are you?" She debated lying but that quickly decided that was a bad idea if she didn't want to make an ass out of herself.

"I'm 14. I took a bunch of Spanish when I was younger so..." She trailed off, feeling nervous under the attention of her partner. The brunette simply nodded, as if her age didn't matter.

"I'm a Junior."

Piper didn't get a chance to respond before they were interrupted by their teacher who was speaking at the board again so Piper paid attention, not wanting to make a bad impression on her teacher on the first day.

"Adios, Piper." Alex's Spanish accent was perfect and the blonde watched from her seat as the brunette weaved through the desks and out the door.

It was lunch time now. There were a few food options in different areas of the cafeteria but Piper decided on a slice of pizza since it seemed like a common choice among the other students. She didn't bother going over to Danny because she didn't want to walk through the sea of people, so she took her plate upstairs and walked along the skybridge that hovered over the other students. There were a few small groups of students but she found a vacant bench and sat down by herself. She ate slowly, hoping the break would go by quickly.

She heard a husky voice looked up. There she was, Alex, walking with a wild haired girl who wore a similar outfit to the brunette.

"Dude I'm just saying there's no point in getting caught sneaking off on the _first day_. You know Robinson is going to be up there in his fucking truck waiting for people to try to get out of here."

"Fuck. This place is like a prison, man." The other girl sounded exasperated. They were walking down the skybridge leisurely toward Piper's bench. She quickly averted her gaze to her phone and scrolled through her Facebook feed, not wanting to seem like she was eavesdropping.

She glanced up once they were in front of her and Alex's was already looking at her with a large friendly smile on her face before returning her gaze forward.

5th period was the longest, but she enjoyed being active so she wasn't too bummed out. _I mean, how can you mess up P.E.?_

She went into the locker room to change into her gym clothes and immediately felt uncomfortable. Most of the girls were younger like her but they also had friends near them. She always thought it was weird that they were just supposed to take their clothes off in the same room but apparently that was just how public school worked. She looked around for her locker and found that it was in the middle of the room. _Great._ She continued looking around until her eyes stopped on a familiar tall figure. If the dark hair wasn't a giveaway, the girl's outfit was the tipoff. It was Alex.

Alex changed pretty quickly but Piper lacked that much confidence and grabbed her pile of clothes and rushed to change in the bathroom stall.

She was one of the last to arrive to the gym. Alex was the only familiar face as the school was rather large. She was now wearing blue shorts and a white tank top. Piper was wearing a similar outfit, but instead of a tank top she had on a slightly large tee shirt. This was what she had seen people wear in movies so she figured it was a safe bet when she packed her bag that morning.

"Alright everybody. We're just gonna get right into it. We'll be playing soccer for the first 2 weeks. I'll pick a couple captains and they'll make the teams." Piper felt her heart rate pick up. Here comes the cliché where she'd be the last person picked in gym class.

"I'll just make the oldest two of you captains. That'll be..." It was almost like he was pausing for dramatic effect, but he was running his finger down his clipboard. "Alex and Jacob."

Alex was a junior and there didn't seem to be any seniors in the class, so it made sense.

Jacob muttered a complaint under his breath.

"Jacob, you can pick first. Just alternate until there's nobody left." The coach went to the back room to grab some soccer balls and cones while they picked teams. Piper was good at soccer. She had played with her friends since they were young, so hopefully she would get a chance to show that she wasn't just some nerdy private school kid. Jacob must have already picked his first player because Alex's voice brought her back into the real world.

"Piper." The blonde's eyes widened in shock. She expected to be at least close to last pick due to her age and lack of friends so far. Alex was smiling at her and she made her way over to stand nervously next to the girl. Maybe she would make a friend after all. The rest of the class was quickly sorted into teams and they stood with their new teammates waiting for further instruction.

"Alright, everyone just try to juggle the soccer balls for a while for a warm up while I set up the cones." The coach slowly wandered around placing cones around the gym floor. Alex had a mesh bag of balls over her shoulder and tossed one to Piper who bounced it off her knee and began showing off her skills. She alternated using her feet and knees as she kept the ball off the ground, bouncing it off her chest when she aimed too high and hopping on one foot to kick the ball before it hit the ground.

"You're not half bad at that." The ball hit the ground immediately, ruining the perfect tempo she had built up so far. She heard Alex laugh as she passed out the rest of the soccer balls.

"We're one short. Share with me?" Alex was standing in front of her so Piper kicked the ball into the air, aiming perfectly so the brunette could juggle it a few times between her feet before passing it back.

"What position do you usually play?" Alex was just as good as Piper from the looks of it.

"Umm. Usually forward?" She dropped the ball again. _Nice._ Alex laughed again.

"Awesome, me too."

The whistle blew only feet away from her ear, causing her to jump as the coach told them to take their positions. Alex's team was to wear the red mesh jerseys. Everyone put theirs on and Piper followed suit, glancing at Alex with her peripheral vision as she noticed the tall girl simply tuck the jersey into the side of her shorts. She seemed to like to color outside of the lines. It was interesting.

Piper took her place in the front of the field and Alex stood next to her. The whistle blew and Piper quickly gained possession of the ball, showing off her practiced footwork as she made her way past the opposing team and passed the ball to Alex who immediately passed it back to her. They continued playing keep away from the other team and eventually Alex passed her the ball at the perfect time and she skillfully shot the ball past the goalie into the coned off area. Alex grinned and jogged with her back to center field, gently slapping her on the shoulder with her congratulations. They continued passing the ball back and forth for the entire game, occasionally including their teammates who usually lost the ball which was retrieved by either the blonde or the brunette almost immediately. They easily won the game 6-1, basking in the complaints of their adolescent competitors.

Alex walked back to the locker room with Piper.

 _Shit._ She realized that she would now have to make the choice between changing out in the open or hiding in the bathroom like a little kid. She didn't want the brunette to think she was weird so she decided to grow a pair of lady balls and change like the rest of them. She faced her locker and quickly replaced her large shirt with the tighter one she wore to school. She removed her shorts and tried to replace them with her jeans quickly but ended up hopping on one foot and was forced to sit on the bench with one pant leg on to avoid falling. She looked up and luckily Alex was focused on changing her own clothes and didn't see.

Alex finished at the same time as Piper and they walked out of the locker room together toward the bus pickup area. They parted ways and went to their respective buses and Piper smiled the whole way home at the glimmering hope that she might have actually made a friend on her first day of school.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Not sure exactly how far this story will go but I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head. This one is kinda short but I want to get the ball rolling before I lose motivation.**

School wasn't as scary the second day. She knew where her classes were and learned to sit a little closer to the front of the bus this time. Geometry was easy again, and it was nice to see a couple familiar faces from the day before. She still felt the awkwardness radiating off herself but it wasn't nearly as unbearable.

Spanish came quickly and Piper was excited to see her new potential friend. She sat next to Alex and they exchanged smiles.

"So are you coming to soccer tryouts later?" Alex asked, sounding hopeful. Piper didn't even know there were tryouts today and she hadn't even considered trying out for the school team. She had always thought it would be fun to play in high school but amidst all the stress the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

"I wasn't planning on it... are you going?" Alex smiled and exhaled a short laugh through her nose and raised her glasses onto her head. She just looked so _cool._

"Well I've been the captain since last year so... I should probably go." Piper was a little embarrassed, for some reason feeling like she should already know this. It made sense that Alex was captain. She was charismatic and friendly and really good at soccer.

"Oh. Well I hadn't really thought about it but I might show up." She decided to play it cool.

"You should. You would make the team for sure." Alex pulled out her notebook and returned her attention to their teacher who was writing verb conjugations on the board. Piper was feeling giddy that the _captain_ of the soccer team was encouraging her to try out. It would be a good way for her to make friends and she had always loved playing the sport. She quickly decided she would absolutely show up to tryouts after P.E.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, Piper's thoughts wrapped up in her potential spot on the team. She was practically fantasizing about having a huge group of friends that all love soccer, going to sleepovers and winning soccer games together.

P.E. went pretty much the same as the day before. Jacob was complaining that the teams should be changed up since they were so unevenly matched but their coach seemed a little too wrapped up in his cell phone to care, muttering something uninterestedly under his breath.

After P.E. Alex called Piper over to her on the other side of the gym.

"There's not really a point in changing since tryouts are in half an hour. I'm going down to the field to set up if you want to tag along." Piper gleefully accepted the offer, still elated that she seemed to have already made a friend. Not just a friend, a junior who happened to be captain of the soccer team that she was about to try out for. Alex snatched the bag of soccer balls and Piper carried a stack of cones and jerseys as they walked down the steep hill to the soccer field. Alex took half the cones and Piper mirrored her actions, creating a few lines that they would dribble through and some boundaries for their practice games. About 30 other girls showed up in small groups, some of them greeting Alex which tipped Piper off that they were on the team the previous year.

Alex left Piper to go speak with the coaches so she stood with the crowd of other girls awaiting instructions. She didn't know anyone else and felt way out of her league. She learned that Mr. Kerr was the head coach and his assistant was Ms. Peck. They had a funny back and forth that made the girls giggle, occasionally throwing jabs at Alex that she quickly retorted to, taking it in stride.

Eventually the girls were broken into groups and rotated around different areas to show off their skills. Despite the blondes nerves she performed well, dribbling through the cones quickly and with ease before moving on to the other obstacles. The girls in her group were already friends and they laughed and chatted while Piper directed all of her attention to her practiced footwork and the ball that she controlled with ease, finally arriving at the small scrimmage at the other end of the field. Alex dictated the positions, knowing which girls preferred what position. Piper was relieved to be placed in her usual position. She wasn't the best there by any means, she realized as the ball was stolen from her at mid field, but her group worked well together and they quickly returned the ball to Piper. She scored 2 of the teams 5 goals and their goalie only allowed the ball past her twice. Most of the girls were acting a little cold toward Piper, probably due to her age, but she didn't let it eat away at her too much. Tryouts were fairly quick and Coach Kerr blew the whistle to signify the end of their scrimmage.

The girls were all lined up to end the tryouts with wind sprints. Piper was definitely a runner and didn't join in when the other girls groaned and complained about already being worn out. Alex joined in for the wind sprints which was kind of surprising to the blonde since she didn't take part in the other activities.

Piper sat in the grass after the tryouts to catch her breath and take a few big gulps from her water bottle. The air was warm and her face was hot. She could feel her pulse in her cheeks after exerting essentially all of her energy during the last exercises. The grass was freshly cut, one of her favorite smells that reminded her of summer and soccer. The sky was a lazy blue peppered with small clouds and showing no signs of rain any time soon. Her water was lukewarm and wasn't helping with her body temperature but she rehydrated nonetheless. Alex took a seat on the grass next to her as the coaches gathered the scattered soccer balls and tipped over cones and the rest of the girls hurried upstairs to go get changed and reapply their makeup. Piper didn't want to leave the field yet.

"You did really well. You're definitely going to be on the team." A smile broke out on Piper's face. She knew she did well but hearing Alex say this made her ecstatic.

"Thanks!" They were both still breathing pretty heavy from the wind sprints and Alex laid back in the grass with her feet on the ground, knees bent. Piper remained upright and chugged the rest of her water while they sat in silence.

Alex grunted and Piper looked up to see a soccer ball sitting on her stomach, presumably thrown by one of the coaches that were now walking back up the hill to return the equipment to the gym.

They sat in silence as they caught their breath, Piper picking at strands of grass between her crossed legs and Alex simply admiring the clouds dancing across the sky. Eventually Alex broke the silence, hopping up and dropping the ball between her feet, dribbling it around the field in an unsystematic pattern. Thanks to the confidence bestowed on her from her success in the tryouts, Piper hopped back onto her feet and sprinted over to the older girl, efficiently stealing the ball from between the unsuspecting brunettes feet and turning around in front of her with a proud grin on her face.

Before she knew it they were sprinting down the field repeatedly stealing the ball from each other over and over until eventually the blonde wore herself out and took a seat on the grass.

"Tired out already?" The brunettes voice came through heavy breathing and made Piper realize they hadn't even spoken since Alex stood up, simply communicating through the ball.

"Hey, I just finished tryouts!" The blonde replied with feigned offence, placing a hand on her chest.

Alex just laughed and took a seat next to her again. They both lay back and tossed the ball back and forth in high arcs between them. Piper took this time to think about the turn of events in the last two days. She came into this place feeling like a complete outcast, but right now she felt like this was exactly where she belonged. She wished she was older so she would be placed on the Varsity team, but knew that was unrealistic because of her age.

The loud sound of the field lights turning on lured the blonde from her reflection as she realized it was now just after 6 in the evening. She decided she should probably head home since she hadn't informed her parents she would be staying after for tryouts and the girls stood up and bid their goodbyes, Alex giving one final wave over her shoulder as Piper started her short walk home.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

 **Thanks soo much for the reviews/favorites/follows! Wasn't super proud of the last two chapters but the stuff coming up is what I've been looking forward to writing. Enjoy!**

Piper stood in the nearly empty gym after P.E. and stared at the piece of paper on the wall. She stared at it like it was going to disappear if she blinked, or she would wake up from a dream if she looked away for even a second. Her eyes flickered over the sheet repeatedly before stopping at her name, reading it over and over like a line for a play she was trying to memorize. Her heart jumped all the way to her throat when she finally came to terms with what was going on and it stayed there are she continued to stare at the paper. The top of the page, in large bold letters read **VARSITY ROSTER.** A few inches below, her name was 2nd on the alphabetical list of names. **Piper Chapman - Grade 09** _ **.**_ She was the only freshman. She considered that this might have been a typo and she was actually looking at the junior varsity roster but her eyes flickered to the bottom and saw a familiar name. **Alex Vause - CAPTAIN - Grade 11** _ **.**_

The blonde freshman was so focused on taking in this information that she didn't hear the footsteps echoing in the gym to her right. She turned to walk away with no destination in mind but stopped immediately as she saw Alex leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a huge smile on her face. Piper blinked hard and her face read nothing but pure shock.

She finally regained her ability to speak.

"Is this for real?" Her voice came out softly. Alex remained leaning against the wall nodded slowly.

Piper finally believed the new information and her cheeks immediately hurt from the size of her grin. Alex laughed and walked over to her, holding out a hand for a high five. Piper slapped their hands together and her smile grew even larger, if that was possible. Alex continued walking toward the gym door while the blonde stayed in place and stared at her. The brunette turned around half way to the door and walked backwards.

"Come practice with me?" Piper practically ran to join her new captain slash teammate.

There were already two soccer balls on the field so Alex must have already been down there earlier. Alex filled her in on her new life on their way down the steep hill.

"So you're not gonna have a life anymore, I hope you know that. We have 2 a days on weekdays and Sundays. Right after school on Monday through Thursday, then we get an hour break and go back until 6. Fridays and Saturdays are free until games start up, but you can kiss your Sundays goodbye." Piper was behind Alex but nodded along anyways, trying to take in all the information. "We don't start until next Monday but I come out here after school every day."

Piper considered joining Alex until Monday, as she genuinely looked up to the girl. The extra practice wouldn't hurt, either.

Once they made it down the hill they each took possession of a ball and without even speaking they began racing to the other side of the field. Piper kicked her ball too far ahead and Alex sprinted ahead and kicked it pretty far out of the way, completely out of the freshly painted boundaries of the field. The blonde was quick to react and stole Alex's ball, continuing to the goal on the other end of the field that she assumed was the finish line. Alex was running next to her perfectly matching her pace as they fought for control, hips and shoulders bumping into each other's occasionally but not hard enough to hurt. Alex suddenly picked up her pace at the same moment Piper kicked the ball and took possession, easily kicking it into the goal. She threw her arms up and jogged a victory circle around the younger girl who just laughed and retrieved the ball.

They repeated their competition between the goals on either end of the field, the blonde basking in the feeling of the wind in her hair and the smile that graced her face. She felt so _free_ playing soccer with Alex. It was like they had an unspoken understanding as they executed various drills. At one point, Piper had a lead on Alex but felt a tug on her jersey. She hipped the girl next to her before complaining.

"Hey! I thought you couldn't tug jerseys on high school teams!" Alex slowed her pace and the blonde followed, placing her hands on her knees as she bent over to catch her breath. Alex mirrored the action and took a few breaths before responding.

"That's if nobody can see it, kid. It's all about knowing what you can get away with. I'll give you some tips while we play."

They played out various scenarios and Piper learned a few tricks to use during games. Alex told her about how much she hated when people pretended to be injured, saying that it _makes soccer look like a sport for pussies, but you do you._ Piper had never been one to fake injuries and decided that she wouldn't begin now, even if it got them a leg up in games. Alex had so much passion for the sport that she looked like a completely different person on the field. In class she was usually somewhat slouched, looking like she could care less (of course she _did_ pay attention to keep her grades up so she could stay on the team). The difference between Alex on the soccer field and Alex in a desk was day and night. She almost always had some semblance of a smile on her face on the field, but at her desk it was usually toned downed to a cocky smirk. Her eyes seemed wider on the field, as if she was amazed at her surroundings at all times. She spoke less on the field, always giving her undivided attention to the ball. She was the perfect captain for the team.

Piper felt lighter than air as they skated along the grass, soccer ball bouncing back and forth like a pinball between their calculated movements. She felt like she belonged on this field with Alex more than she had belonged anywhere in her life. They took a breather and practiced headers, not touching the ball with their hands or feet as they aimed perfectly at each other. The flood lights turned on with a loud clunking noise but they paid the interruption no attention. The only sound that could be heard was their somewhat heavy breathing and the distinct smack of the ball on different parts of their body; heads, chests, shoulders, knees, feet, wherever the ball landed they kept it off the ground like a kid playing a game of _the floor is lava_. They were in a spotlight for their inexistent audience under the bright lights, unable to see anything but the grass that was blanketed by the white light from overhead. Blackness and silence surrounded them, broken by the occasional _good job_ when a seemingly runaway ball was recovered, the rare _my bad_ when the ball was kicked into the sea of darkness surrounding them, or the occasional _whoop!_ when one of them stole the ball from the other.

They were interrupted by Piper's phone ringing from their spot on the grass and she jogged over to answer it.

"Hi, mom. No... I'm fine... I made varsity on the soccer team!... Why would I want to be a cheerleader when I can be the one playing a real sport?... No, it really isn't, mom." An exasperated sigh escaped her lips. "I'll be there. I know. Bye."

She looked at Alex apologetically, knowing she had heard her end of the conversation and would have to return home for a late dinner and the dreaded lecture about how her mother wished she would become a cheerleader to support her older brother.

"Do you want a ride home? I'm pretty sure the buses stopped running." The thought hadn't even crossed the blonde's mind as she had been so caught up in their practicing and she didn't really have any choice since it was a little too late to be walking home alone.

"Sorry... that would be really great. I didn't notice how late it was." Piper felt a little weird taking the kind offer since she had just met Alex a few days ago, but they seemed to have an unspoken bond through their love of the sport. It was a connection formed through small encouragements and heavy breathing as they danced around the field, the soccer ball orbiting around them for hours.

They didn't bother changing and walked up to the parking lot to Alex's car. She drove a 1995 Nissan S14. It was white but the hood was a flat black color. Piper didn't know too much about cars but her brother had taught her a little when she was younger.

"I like your car," She said awkwardly as she flopped herself ungracefully into the low seat of the car.

"Thanks. It was kind of a piece when I bought it but I painted it and fixed it up a little." Piper looked around the interior of the tidy car as they drove the few blocks to Piper's parents house. She peered through the window and informed Alex that they had arrived at her place, briefly catching the eyebrows on the brunette raising just slightly as she glanced at the large house in front of her.

"Thanks for everything... I had a good time. I'll see you in Spanish tomorrow?" Piper asked as she hopped out of the car and slung her backpack over one shoulder.

"Yup. See you tomorrow teammate." This made Piper smile that thousand watt smile again as she once again became excited at the idea of being on the varsity team.

Her dinner and shower were both cold. She didn't mind at all. It was well after 9pm and Piper rushed through her homework before going to bed. Her muscled ached as she eased herself into her small bed, but the ache was welcome as it reminded her of the eventful day. Her bed wasn't small because her parents couldn't afford a larger one, but she never felt the need for a larger bed. She spent the least amount of time possible sleeping, always preferring to be doing something productive like going for a run or studying for far away tests. She snuggled under her blanket as the cool breeze from the window chilled her wet hair and drifted off to sleep quickly, emotionally and physically exhausted from the day.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day when they made their way to the field they were stopped by Alex's crazy haired friend. Piper learned a few things about her: her name was Nicky, she had a large vocabulary that consisted mostly of creative combinations of cuss words, she smoked cigarettes even when she was on campus, and her friendship with Alex was one of a kind. She introduced the blonde to her friend and they shook hands.

"So Vause, this is the little spitfire you were telling me about?" Alex punched her friend in the arm with a glare. "I mean, she's the freshman on the varsity team right?"

Alex looked relieved when she heard the second half of Nicky's sentence, causing Piper to become a little worried that Alex was saying something bad about her. She had been following the girl around like a lost puppy since the second day and wondered if Alex was just too nice or too good of a captain to say anything.

"Yo, there's no fucking way I'm coming back up that hill so I'll see you later." She kicked Alex's leg and nodded her head at Piper before returning to wherever she had appeared from.

"So that's Nicky... You'll learn to love her," Alex smiled over her shoulder at Piper, effectively ridding the young girl of her concern.

They repeated their routine from yesterday and Piper learned a little bit more about what her future would be like. They were a D1 team so they flew all around the states playing some of the best high schools around. Piper bottled up her concerns about her fear of flying and continued listening.

"We get hotel rooms. Kerr and Peck will always say to be in our rooms before 9 but it's kind of a good team bonding experience for everyone to sneak out and meet at the pool. They both know we do it but it's more fun to watch everyone work together and try to be sneaky. Shit, I guess I just ruined that part for you..." She put her hand on her forehead and shook her head. "Anyways, we have big get togethers every couple weeks which are pretty fun. Most of the girls sit together in the cafeteria but I usually hang out with Nicky, we've been friends since preschool." Piper nodded along as she digested all of the new information.

"Nicky tried out to be the goalie our freshman year. I don't think she realized that it meant she still had to come to practice and do wind sprints and shit. She was actually really good and scared the other teams shitless but she quit when she found out how much cardio she had to do." Piper giggled and could already imagine the girl complaining about the exercise. "Anyways, we don't usually get to hang out much during the season since I'm always out here so I spend lunch with her."

The rest of the week went by in a breeze, and the two girls sat together in the dark breathing heavily on Friday night. Piper was surprised that Alex still wanted to play on a Friday night since she probably had a million invitations to parties. It was well after 10pm but since it was a weekend Piper was allowed to stay out pretty much as late as she wanted. She wondered why Alex never invited anybody else to come practice with them but attributed it to the fact that she was way younger than anyone else and the brunette knew she didn't have any friends.

"So do you have any big plans for tonight?" Alex asked as her breathing returned to normal. Piper had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"No not really... I was probably just going to finish the Spanish homework and watch shitty movies." Her embarrassment was audible as she admitted to her lack of plans on a Friday night.

"That's pretty much exactly what I was going to do too." Alex admitted with a snicker.

"Do you umm... I mean we could do the Spanish homework together. If you want. And watch a movie or something." Piper's eyebrows creased as she listened to her not so coherent sentence. The girl was way older than her and probably had better things to do so she prepared herself for severe embarrassment. She was pleasantly surprised by Alex's response.

"That actually sounds way better than being alone." Alex stood up and held up a hand, helping the younger blonde to her feet.

During the car ride Alex spoke up.

"Oh shit! I forgot to ask you. What number do you want?"

"What?" Piper furrowed her eyebrows trying to think of what that could possibly mean.

"On your jersey. What number do you want to be?" _Ohhh._ Piper hadn't even thought about what number she wanted. She didn't even know she'd have a say in the matter.

"My favorite number is 9 so I guess that would be cool." Alex chuckled as soon as Piper said the number.

"Well I'm 9 so you can't be 9. Sorry kid." She looked over sympathetically but had a smile on her face.

"Oh, that's fine." Piper laughed with Alex at the odds of picking her number.

"Well give it some thought so I can tell Kerr. Otherwise they'll just give you a random number."

They pulled up to a Taco Bell drive thru because they were both starving after the hours of cardio. They ordered nearly one of everything and Alex insisted on paying the steep fee. The rest of the ride was quiet except for the sound of chewing and Alex muttering curse words as pieces of lettuce and cheese fell onto the floor of her car whenever she turned the steering wheel.

They didn't discuss whose house they would go to but Alex drove them straight to Piper's. Her parents and Cal would be asleep and Danny was surely out partying so they had the place to themselves, more or less.

They entered Piper's room and she moved to her desk to unpack her school work in her backpack. Alex stood in the doorway looking around her room. Most of her stuff was white; the walls and floor, the bookshelf, the sheets and comforter, her desk and chair. She always like white furniture because it made her feel clean. Her bed sat in the corner across from the door and she threw her Spanish book on top of the bed spread.

"It's so _white_ in here. I feel like I should go take a shower before I stain all your shit." The brunette laughed quietly as she sat her notebook next to Piper's on the bed. Alex grabbed a pencil and crawled onto the bed, leaning against the wall as Piper followed suit, sitting next to her new friend. She decided it was appropriate to think of Alex as a friend now.

Their homework was really short, especially since they worked together. Alex made fun of Piper's mispronounced words while Piper pulled the _but I'm only a freshman_ card as her defense. They decided to order a pizza since they were already hungry again and it came right after they finished their assignment. Piper refused to eat anything but plain cheese pizza, claiming that she didn't trust the meat or vegetables from anywhere that would deliver that late at night. Alex made fun of her, but ate the plain pizza anyways.

Alex was getting ready to put a DVD into the Xbox when she stopped.

"What the fuck is this?!" Her tone set Piper into a complete panic, listing the things that Alex could have possibly found in her usually tidy room. Before she could come up with much of a list, Alex held up a copy of FIFA for the Xbox. She didn't even bother to ask as she returned the movie to its rightful place and inserted the game.

Piper was suddenly excited to show off her skills and she completely forgot about the pizza. Over the summer she had practically mastered the game, playing against her brother and other people over the internet since she had been drifting away from her friends. She raised her eyebrows and held out a hand for a controller.

"You know I'm really good at this game, right?" Piper's tone was cocky as Alex mirrored her facial expression.

"That makes two of us, kid." She tossed Piper a controller and they rearranged themselves so they were leaning against the wall opposite the TV side by side.

30 minutes later Alex threw her controller down on the bed with a loud huff.

"This is bullshit!" She complained as she angrily grabbed a piece of pizza and stuffed it into her mouth. They had been exercising so much lately that they could practically eat garbage and still not have to worry. She glanced over at Piper who was looking prouder than ever and a little bit smug.

"Fuck this, I'm putting the movie back in." Alex's small grin gave away the fact that she wasn't actually as upset as she was pretending to be. They played the movie but kept the volume almost muted as they spoke quietly over it. Alex told her that she might not be able to play in the first game because it was a lot to take in and she didn't want her to freak out. She told her that everyone would be nice to her but if not she should tell Alex right away. As captain she needed to know about any issues. They talked about Spanish and how easy their P.E. class was. At one point, Piper lifted up the comforter and they both crawled under it to keep warm. They lay on their backs with their heads turned so they could face each other and Piper had never been more comfortable. She had always thought she would be best friends with her former classmates but the connection between her and Alex was almost instantaneous. They were completely comfortable after having only known each other for a few days, her only insecurity being their age difference and that Alex would eventually want to hang out with people her own age again.

The movie ended and they talked for a little longer before Alex had to head home. Piper considered offering to let Alex stay the night but she didn't want to push her luck and lose a new friend, so she walked Alex out and they said their goodbyes.

...

The next two weeks flew by. Piper was getting to know her teammates and getting used to her new practice routine. She was in excellent shape to begin with but she could feel herself being able to control the ball better and thought she might even be running faster than before. Alex had come over every Friday since the first time, working on Spanish homework and playing overly competitive games of FIFA.

It was finally time for the first game of the season. She was given number 6 at random since she forgot to pick one, but she was happy with it. Piper and Alex had discussed that it would be best for Piper to remain on the bench and observe before playing in a real game. Piper sat on the edge of the bench, eyes trained solely on Alex. Whenever the brunette scored a goal she made a "rock on" symbol with her hand and stuck her tongue out at Piper while their teammates slapped her on the back. They had a very similar play style so she noted strategies that Alex used during the game. She had already scored 2 of the teams 3 goals while the opposing team was yet to sink a ball into their net. Alex occasionally made funny faces in Piper's direction and she returned them with a smile and extra loud cheers whenever she gained possession. At one point a girl shoved Alex aggressively. Her reaction was to simply look down at the girl who she towered over and mouth _bitch_ as she tilted her head and widened her eyes at Piper who was uncontrollably giggling.

Piper noticed Alex pull one of the other forwards to the side toward the end of the game and they had a short conversation before Alex jogged over to the sideline.

"Pipes, want to hop in?" Piper was caught a little off guard and opened her mouth without saying anything, so Alex continued. "The game is almost over and they're not being overly aggressive so it might be a good time for you to step in."

Alex didn't wait for Piper to respond as she waved the other forward over and she took a seat on the bench. She grabbed Piper's hand and helped her up and they jogged to the center of the field. The whistle blew and the ball was immediately between Piper's feet, courtesy of Alex who seemed to always have control over the ball. She paused for less than a second before taking off, imagining herself running next to Alex on the field late at night under the flood lights on the soccer field. She found herself cornered and passed the ball to Alex who passed it back as soon as the blonde was open again. Piper was too nervous to make the shot and once again shot the ball in Alex's direction. Alex shot her a look that was a mix between understanding and encouragement as she weaved through the defenders and passed it back one more time. Piper took the shot and the goalie barely deflected the ball, but Alex was right in front of her and used her head to butt the ball back into the goal causing it to contact the net.

The two of them were immediately enveloped in a hug from their teammates and Piper's heart was racing with pure joy and excitement. They jogged back to the center of the field and Piper could just barely hear Alex over the remaining cheers.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kid."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

 **Forgot to add my note at the beginning of the last chapter, so** **double thank you** **for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I have a little knowledge about soccer but if I get anything wrong please let me know so I can fix it. I promise Vauseman will happen soon (I don't consider that a spoiler since let's be honest, that's why we're all here.)**

 **When I'm reading I like long chapters but I keep finding myself stopping short of 3,000 words. Trying to work on that. I'll most likely put up another longer chapter today since it's almost done.**

 **Special shoutout to my repeat reviewers :)**

 **Last thing: I was in the progress of reading New Romantics by NightsLightss (so fucking good) and hadn't read the one about soccer until I saw a review saying they're similar. I had/have no intent to copy that story, and now that I've read it I'll make sure to keep my story unique.**

Over the next few weeks Piper and Alex became best friends. There wasn't a certain turning point or a specific event that made Piper realize this, but it was certainly true. Alex still hung out with Nicky at lunch, but Piper was always invited to join. Alex treated her the same at practice because she didn't want to cause any problems with the rest of the girls, but between two-a-days and after practice they gravitated to each other. They were inseparable on weekends. On Fridays they would stay after school and goof around with a soccer ball or race each other across the field until well after dark. It wasn't until the third Friday in a row that Piper brought up the fact that she had never been to Alex's house.

"Why don't we ever go to your place?" Piper questioned one day as they lazily kicked the ball back and forth. Alex stopped and the ball rolled past her, coming to a halt about 5 feet around her as she looked at the ground. The older girl's usual confidence seemed to have flown out the window as she scuffed the grass with her cleats.

"There's just nothing to do... I mean there's no yard and no Xbox and it's really... small." She stopped kicking her feet and stared at them for another moment before glancing up at Piper. The blonde frowned.

"I don't care. We can just hang out. I mean, we don't have to. I was just wondering." She was pretty bummed out that Alex could ever feel embarrassed around her about money.

"Yeah. You're right." She went to collect the ball and when she returned she looked a little more like herself. "Fuck it, let's go over there tomorrow."

And that was that.

They practiced ridiculous moves that would probably never be used on the field during games, never once landing the ball into the makeshift goal in Piper's backyard. After one particularly failed bicycle kick by Piper they gave up, barely able to find the ball in the now pitch dark. They blindly found their way back into the house and tiptoed up to Piper's room, shutting the door that acted as a surprisingly good sound barrier against their giggles that usually lasted long past 2 in the morning.

"Movie or FIFA?" Alex questioned as she knelt in front of the entertainment stand, shuffling through the stack of new Netflix DVDs that Piper had ordered in the mail. She held on up and raised her eyebrows at Piper.

"101 Dalmations? Really?"

"Hey! I was feeling nostalgic. Let's play FIFA, I feel like kicking your ass." Piper was now the one smirking. Alex scoffed and put the game in and they both flopped onto the bed.

Alex stayed the night as usual, the both of them fitting with more than enough space on Piper's oversized bed.

When she woke up in the morning she was bundled up in her comforter like a burrito. Her eyes fluttered open and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight next to her. Alex was covered up to her chin with a single sheet, pressed completely against the wall. Her hair was a complete mess and she had a slight frown on her face. The blonde's laughter shook the bed enough to wake up her friend. Her frown grew deeper and she reached her hand out blindly in an attempt to find the comforter that Piper had stolen in her sleep. At the lack of warmth she finally opened her eyes and glared at Piper.

"I'm going to bring my own blanket next time, asshole." She yanked the comforter from Piper and left her still giggling, uncovered on the bed in an oversized tee shirt and a pair of shorts that were short enough to be completely hidden by the shirt. She dramatically rolled over securing the blanket around her as she faced the wall again. Piper laughed even harder as she grabbed a pillow and smacked Alex on the back of the head with it.

"You bitch." Alex grabbed the offending pillow and returned the action, and moments later they were having a full blown pillow fight straight out of a teenage boys wet dream. They wore themselves out and lay back down, tired enough to give up the argument as they shared the blanket.

"That was cliché." Alex muttered through the comforter that was pulled up to her nose. Piper laughed and got up, facing the wall as she replaced her outfit with a pair of sweats and a cutoff tank top. When she turned back around Alex was covered with the blanket over her head facing the opposite wall. She always did this when Piper changed. The blonde assumed it was out of modesty and typically returned the action when Alex changed.

They shuffled their way downstairs where Carol was sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee and a gossip magazine. She shook her head when she saw her daughter's outfit.

"I do hope you aren't leaving the house like that," She muttered disapprovingly.

Piper just rolled her eyes and threw an entire box of Eggo's in the oven for their breakfast, setting the timer on her phone and following the brunette back up the stairs.

"Do you still want to go to my place today?" Alex inquired as she changed her shirt. Piper was looking down at her phone.

"Yeah, anything to get away from my mom. That shit is getting old."

They scarfed down their waffles ungracefully with copious amounts of syrup before changing into more appropriate clothing and heading to Alex's house.

Alex ended up living only a couple miles away in a little less sophisticated neighborhood. She lived in an apartment building cornering two secluded streets. The sidewalk was cracked and had weeds creeping over it, much unlike the perfectly groomed path outside of the blonde's house. The building was made of older brick. There actually was a backyard area but it was a mix between weeds and gravel, one side meeting the old brick building and the other end fenced off with chain link. Alex's apartment was on the second floor in the three story building. The black metal hand rail was shaky at best.

Piper followed closely behind Alex who was beginning to fidget with her glasses, something that Piper had noticed she did when she was nervous. The door opened with a loud creak. The home was warm inside, and it smelled like Alex. Like vanilla and leather with a hint of cigarette smoke. But it also had that 'old apartment' smell, which strangely comforted Piper. It was way more homey than the smell of bleach that always seemed to linger at Piper's place.

Alex didn't take off her shoes so Piper left hers on as well. The carpet in the living room was dark green. There was a worn leather couch that looked really comfortable sitting across from an old tube television that looked rarely used. A bookshelf took up an entire wall of the living room and the shelves were full, stacks of old and new books barely fitting on it. There were also a few books on the coffee table in front of the couch and the table next to the arm that had an old lamp on it. The kitchen was connected to the living room. The floor was old linoleum and the counters were peeling from years of use without replacement. She only got to steal a glance at the kitchen as she followed Alex closely to her room. When she opened the door the sight made Piper smile. Her bed was pushed in the corner against the wall. Across from it was another full bookshelf. There were pictures of Alex and Nicky pinned lazily to the wall spanning from when they were probably 3 years old up until more recent pictures. There was one that made Piper smile even larger where they were in soccer uniforms. Nicky had goalie gloves on and looked completely miserable and Alex had a huge grin on her flushed face. A poster of the USA Women's soccer team was on the wall that looked like it had fallen down multiple times, tacks barely holding it in place.

She had a huge old speaker system that looked like it was frequently used, wires duct taped together to keep it functioning. The blinds were bent and broken in parts the room wasn't dark even with the blinds shut. Alex flipped the light switch and the light flickered twice before turning on. There were shorts and socks and kneepads piled in a corner and a few band shirts near the bed.

She was so busy taking in her surroundings that she didn't notice Alex looking at her expectantly.

"I like it. It's so... you." For lack of better words she smiled at the brunette who was looking a little uncomfortable.

"What does that mean?" Alex pretended to be offended, clearly using humor to her defense.

"I don't know. I just like it." Piper shrugged and fell onto Alex's bed and was joined by the brunette. They sat and looked up at the ceiling where there was another women's soccer team poster, but Piper wasn't sure what team it was. Alex grabbed a soccer ball from the floor and they tossed it back and forth in high arcs, occasionally failing to catch it and getting hit in the stomach and letting out noises of complaint. Eventually Alex hopped up and walked out to the living room and Piper followed.

"So where's your mom?" They had spoken about Alex's dad briefly, and Piper learned that it wasn't a very good topic.

"She's at work. She's only really here on weekends for a few hours." Alex responded quietly and Piper dropped the subject. Alex put in a Guns N Roses CD in the living room and went to open the fridge. Piper sat on the couch and learned that it was indeed as comfortable as it looked. The brunette returned with a huge plate of nachos and they ate and talked for hours.

By the time they left her apartment it was dark outside. Alex drove around and they pondered where to go for a while before the brunette came up with an idea.

"Where are we going?" Piper questioned, trying to look outside but only seeing her reflection in the tinted window.

"It's a secret, you'll see." Alex's response was mysterious as expected.

They wound up on the NYU soccer field. Nobody was there since all of the students were probably out partying. Alex popped the trunk to reveal an extra pair of cleats, shin guards, and 3 soccer balls.

"How many soccer balls do you _have?_ " The blonde questioned with wide eyes, remembering that there were multiple in the living room and bedroom at Alex's place. Alex just shrugged and pulled one out of the trunk.

They sparred for hours. Running back and forth on the turf and filling their socks with the small pieces of rubber, racing each other up and down the stairs between the seats, and drop kicking the ball repeatedly back and forth through the field goal posts used for football.

At midnight the flood lights turned off and their eyes adjusted to the darkness. They gave up playing soccer but weren't ready to leave yet so Alex skillfully climbed up the field goal post and sat above Piper, feet dangling below her.

"Hey! No fair, I can't get up there." Piper grunted as she repeatedly slid down the pole pathetically. Alex teased her for a few moments before scooting back to the center of the post and reaching down to offer the blonde a hand. She took it and was impressed by the sight of Alex's muscular arm pulling her entire weight up and on to the post next to her. She made a note to herself to start doing more push-ups.

They sat up on the post swinging their legs and talking about anything and everything. The topic danced from their teammates and upcoming games to making fun of their classmates to their favorite songs and movies. They didn't see perfectly eye to eye about music and movies, but they shared a love of literature. The moon lit their faces and they looked up at the stars in silence before Alex let go of the bar with her arms and swung upside down, holding herself in place with her bent knees. Piper did the same and they stayed like that until too much blood rushed to their heads and they decided to pack it in for the night.

They slept on Piper's bed in large tee shirts with ample space between them as usual.

When the blonde woke up she was surprised to see that Alex wasn't next to her, and when she got up to look out the window her car was missing from its normal parking space.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

 **Damn, you guys are fast. Thanks for the reviews I've already gotten since posting the last chapter a couple hours ago, every single one made me smile! This one was pretty fun to write.**

 **Hope you guys like it!**

They never brought up Alex's strange disappearance that Sunday morning. They slipped back into their normal routing the following week, although Piper noticed Alex had been a little distant. They still played hours past dark after school but their goodnight hugs became one armed and Alex maintained a greater distance when stealing the ball from the blonde.

It happened that Friday night on the soccer field. Piper had just stolen the ball and was showing off her fancy footwork as she pranced around, hair falling out of her messy bun as she laughed freely. She barely noticed when Alex stopped chasing her and stood there with a small smile on her face, watching the blonde spinning circles with perfect control over the ball at her feet. Piper stopped in front of the brunette breathing heavily with a smile so big that it exposed most of her teeth. Her smile faltered in confusion as Alex simply looked at her with her lips still curled in that small grin.

What happened next was probably the most surprising thing that had ever happened to Piper in her life.

Alex's lips were on hers quickly but softly, so smooth and gentle that they felt like melting butter. Alex's hands were just barely holding her waist as she kissed the blonde. It lasted mere seconds and Alex pulled away. Piper felt her head involuntarily tilt upwards attempting to maintain contact, not wanting that feeling to ever end. Her mind, though, was completely scattered. _This is why Alex never has boyfriends. This is why she looks away when I'm changing. This is why she leaves so much space between us when we sleep in my bed.._

Piper had never considered that Alex wasn't straight, let alone herself. She had never thought of Alex in that way before. She did find her attractive. Really attractive now that she thought about it. She had chalked her admiration up to how amazing Alex was as a person and figured that was normal when you idolize someone, but after what happened she realized that it might be more than that.

But before she could figure out what to think or say Alex was muttering an apology and a shitty excuse about having to leave, jogging up the steep hill and leaving Piper with her soccer ball, alone and dumbfounded.

She wanted to tell her to stop. To beg her to wait. But she was speechless, unable to form a sentence though all the thoughts and questions racing through her head.

 _Alex Vause kissed me._

So she sat in the cold grass holding Alex's soccer ball loosely between her fingertips and tried to slow her thoughts. The more she thought about it the more it felt right. She wanted to kiss Alex again. Well, she wanted Alex to kiss her again, but she wanted to kiss back this time. She wanted that feeling again and again.

She sat in the field and prayed that Alex would come back and kiss her again or at least talk to her but after an hour she gave up hope. She stood at the far end of the field and kicked the ball as hard as she could to let out her emotions. Her hamstring burned as she put all of her effort into punting the ball across the grass as if it would take her worries with it. She feared that Alex realized this was a mistake and wouldn't want to see her anymore. She feared that by not kissing back she had ruined any chance of... _whatever this was_ continuing. She feared that her best friend was gone.

So she ran. She ran laps and laps around the field until her legs burned and each breath was painful. She was drenched in sweat and mud but continued until her body gave up on her, collapsing into the cold grass.

She decided she needed to talk to Alex because she wasn't so sure that the brunette would contact her after what had happened. So she got up and walked home, deciding that tomorrow she would go to Alex's house to 'return her soccer ball'. She didn't sleep much that night, tossing and turning and playing through memories trying to recall if Alex had been sending signals that had gone completely over her head. She thought about how they would lean against the wall and smack talk each other while they played FIFA. She thought about how they would talk about the stupidest things for hours on end. She thought about how Alex always complained at her movie choices but still laughed with her and watched attentively. She wanted to do all of these things just one more time because everything felt different now. She wanted to know what it would feel like to lay next to Alex and know they were more than teammates or friends.

She could feel her heartbeat in her throat at the thought that she would never beat Alex at video games again, that she wouldn't get to spend weekends playing soccer with her or eating copious amounts of junk food that they would run off the next day.

She woke up and sat straight up, her brain giving her no break from the relentless _what ifs_ even seconds after waking up. She took a fast cold shower to wake herself up and grabbed Alex's soccer ball, snatching a banana on the way out the door. She dribbled the soccer ball like a basketball with one hand and ate the banana with the other as she slowly walked to Alex's house. She tried to tell herself that there were two good possible outcomes, but her mind was stuck on the third. _We could stay friends and pretend this never happened. We could do this and see what happens. She could never talk to me again._

She stood at the steps to the apartment and took a deep breath. She quietly walked up the stairs and knocked on the door carefully. Three small but loud taps. And she waited for what felt like hours before she heard slow footsteps approaching the door. The door swung open slowly with a loud creak. The sight in front of her would have made her laugh if it weren't for the current state of events. Alex was barefoot, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a baggy AC/DC shirt. Her hair was an absolute mess, sticking out on one side and flat on the other, covering sections of her face. Her eyes were squinting behind her glasses and it was clearly the first time she had seen daylight.

"You uhh... You forgot your soccer ball last night." The excuse sounded _so lame_ when she said it out loud as they both looked over at the corner where 3 balls sat with two pairs of cleats. Alex scratched her head lazily and looked back to the blonde shuffling awkwardly in front of her. Piper counted to 20 before becoming too uncomfortable and taking a step back.

"Sorry. Uhh, I'll just... leave it here." She awkwardly placed it on the ground and turned to walk away.

"Piper." Alex's voice was husky, gravelly, and it was clear she hadn't spoken since she woke up as she cleared her throat. "I have cold pizza?"

A small smile found its way to Pipers lips as she slowly walked back to the door and inside behind the brunette. Alex grabbed a pizza box from the fridge and they sat on the couch, Alex taking a seat a little farther away than normal.

They spoke at the same time, blurting out what was on their minds.

"I like you."

"I'm sorry."

Then in unison.

"What?"

Piper felt her face turn beet red as she realized that Alex was apologizing, as if to say she regretted what happened last night. Alex's eyes were wide behind her glasses and her lips parted but no words came out. Piper dropped her head into her hand and closed her eyes, never feeling so embarrassed in her life.

"You like me?" Alex's voice was wondrous, as if she never expected to hear Piper say those words in a million years.

Piper considered lying but couldn't, so she just nodded her head that was still hidden by her hand. She felt movement on the couch and Alex's hand was on her wrist, gently pulling it away from her face. She looked up with a fearful look on her face until she saw the smile on Alex's face. She couldn't help but shyly smile back. The older girl's other hand slowly rose to Piper's face, fingertips gently resting on her high cheek bone.

"I like you." She whispered as confirmation that she brunette didn't mishear her.

Alex's grin grew even bigger, exposing white teeth. She leaned forward, smile slowly morphing into a more serious face and pressed her lips against Pipers. It was more confident this time since they both knew it was welcome. Piper kissed back, quickly bringing her hands to tangle in the hair on the back of Alex's head. Butterflies filled her stomach and she had trouble kissing back because it felt so good. Good was actually an awful word to describe the feeling but she didn't dwell on that. There were much better things to dwell on at the moment. Like Alex's tongue that was now gently brushing along her bottom lip, so delicately that it almost tickled. She wondered if it was so gentle because Alex didn't want to rush things or push her, but she parted her lips shortly after. And holy shit was she glad she did. Their tongues met almost hesitantly, feeling a bit strange at the quick abandoning of their platonic friendship because they both knew there was no going back now. Piper felt a moan vibrate between their lips but she couldn't hear anything except the heartbeat in her eardrums.

They remained on the couch for what was probably hours exploring the new territory of each other's mouths, Alex's lips occasionally traveling to Piper's neck or the skin below her ear but they always returned to her lips, clashing together like magnets.

Piper had only been kissed a few times in her life, always by clumsy boys, but she would have bet her entire savings account that Alex was about as good as it could get. Her lips were soft and her tongue was demanding yet comforting and not too pushy. She nibbled on Piper's lower lip a few times, evoking an unstoppable moan at each gently bite and pull.

Piper could tell that Alex was using all of her strength to keep her wandering hands away from her breasts and between her thighs but she was thankful. She was still a virgin and wasn't ready to take the next step, no matter who it was with.

Eventually Alex, who had been straddling the blonde, removed herself and sat back looking at the girls swollen lips and ruffled hair.

"I feel like we should go play or I won't be able to stop," Her eyes weren't even meting the blonde's, just drifting up and down her body slowly.

Piper stood up and grabbed the soccer ball that she had recently used as an excuse to enter the apartment. They went to the field at school as usual. Piper walked down the hill ahead of Alex, turning her head back to see Alex's eyes quickly snap up from her ass with a guilty smirk on her face. She wondered how many times the brunette had done this when she was too oblivious to see the telltale signs of admiration. The corners of her mouth turned up and she shook her head, almost in denial that _the Alex Vause_ was acting like this around her. _Because_ of her.

Their routine went a little differently today. They stretched together and started out with a job around the field. It was slow and relaxing.

Eventually the inevitable game of keep away began, but it was different. Their teasing became more prominent, in fact when the blonde thought hard enough it couldn't even be called teasing. It was flirting. And Piper was finding out just how flirty Alex could be. It felt like they had been dating for weeks when in reality she wasn't even sure if they were dating at all. Alex used typical phrases sometimes, the cliché "make me" in response to Piper's requests for her to share the ball, "Oh yeah?"s when the blonde celebrated a victory over her, but she also surprised the blonde with pet names and light touches to her arms and back.

This was all so new but it felt so damn familiar.

"Baby," Alex cooed. "Give me the ball just for a second. Please?" She attempted Piper's puppy dog eyes but the blonde resisted. Barely.

"Uh uh. Don't pull that shit with me. I know you." Piper could barely keep her voice steady at the brunettes smooth yet husky voice. Alex's eyes narrowed as she attempted to gain control of the ball but Piper quickly dragged it back under her foot with her hands on her hips.

Alex's arms slid through Pipers and she rested them on her waist with a smirk on her face. Piper had seen that smirk probably _thousands_ of times in their few weeks of being friends, but somehow it looked completely different now. Maybe it was because she knew what those lips felt like when they were on hers, or because she had never looked at Alex in this way before, but whatever it was overwhelmed her. Before she could make a move Alex's lips were on hers. She was immediately using her tongue, tilting her head to the side to deepen the kiss as soon as Piper parted her lips. The grip on her waist tightened and Piper felt one of Alex's legs slide between hers. She didn't expect this and it honestly made her uncomfortable for all of two seconds before Alex's leg was removed and she was gone, soccer ball in her possession.

They repeated their flirtatious workout for hours until finally Alex's stomach started growling.

"We never ate that pizza did we? I'm kind of starving."

Piper trapped the ball under her foot.

"Chinese food?" Alex fucking _moaned_ in response. Piper closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"That sounds so fucking good right now." The blonde barely even heard her as she tried to hide her reaction to the moan.

They hiked up the hill and raced to the car, arguing who won the face as they both slapped the car at the same time. Piper was surprised when they went to an actual restaurant instead of one of their normal trips to various drive thru where they bought bags upon bags of greasy food.

There was a buffet option and the two of them shared a mutual look of agreement and were lead to their table. They didn't even sit down, just rushed over to the buffet to grab their plates. Their dirty cleats dropped little pieces of hardened mud and tufts of grass all over the floor but they didn't care, they were too focused on their food and each other. They were silent as they practically inhaled plate after plate, giggling whenever they made eye contact with cheeks bulging attempting to chew with their mouths closed.

5 trips. It took 5 trips, each one resulting in an overflowing plate, for them to fill up. They certainly didn't pick very many healthy options either. Their last plates were filled with that weird buffet tiramisu covered with generous piles of ice cream and peanuts. They sat groaning and clenching their stomachs as they waited for the bill. They fought over it briefly but Piper won thanks to her pouty face and reasoning that Alex always paid for their food and drove Piper around like her personal chauffer.

"Alright, Miss Daisy." Alex smirked.

They returned to Alex's house and her mom was at work again (or still, Piper wasn't sure which.)

They plopped on the couch, Piper resting her legs over Alex's lap. They sat like this a few times before but it felt different now. A lot of things felt different now. Alex's hands began running up and down her shins and the blonde sighed at the feeling. This much have encouraged her because she began rubbing the blonde's feet, to which she couldn't help but moan. Alex lifted her eyebrows with a smirk but continued, rubbing up her calves and back down, never touching higher than her knees.

Piper was thinking as she enjoyed the massage. She was thinking about how they should probably talk about what they were doing with each other. _That's what normal people do, right? Or will I ruin this when Alex remembers I'm 14 and she's 3 years older than me?_ She didn't notice Alex's questioning glance at her.

"Hey." Alex was looking at her knowingly. "What's up, kid?"

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about... Spanish homework." She thought it was a good excuse.

"No you weren't." Alex raised her eyebrows and continued the stare down. "You don't have to tell me. But I'm a good listener and I have a feeling there's something you want to say."

"I just... I mean you're way older than me and I've never even had a boyfriend or girlfriend before. Like, I have no idea what I'm doing here. Isn't that kind of weird for you? You haven't dated anyone since I met you..."

Alex rolled her eyes as if the blonde was being completely ridiculous.

"I've dated, Piper. Just not since we started hanging out. I like you. Seriously. I mean if you're not comfortable by all means tell me now. But don't shy away from me because you're scared. I don't care how _experienced_ you are."

"Oh. Okay. So like... what are we?" Piper tried to smile but it just came out as a weird face and made Alex smile and tilt her head to the side.

"What do you want us to be?"

"You can't answer a question with a question." Piper reasoned, scared that if she told the brunette she wanted to be with her it would make her look needy.

"Well I would like to call you my girlfriend. Can I do that?" Alex pressed her lips together as if to stop herself from laughing. Piper's cheeks turned pink and she tried to gain some control over the conversation.

"Yeah... I guess that would be okay." Apparently she did too good of a job because Alex frowned.

"You don't have to say yes. We can just be friends if it makes you uncomfortable, Piper." Her serious tone and the look on her face made her realize she took it too far. _God damn it._

"No! I mean... I would like you to call me your girlfriend." She looked down as she tried to collect her scraps of self dignity. Alex smirked and laughed through her nose as she apparently realized what Piper had done.

"Oh. I see how it is. _Girlfriend._ " Piper smiled creating deep dimples in her cheeks as she looked up sheepishly at Alex.

They were interrupted by the front door opening and a dark haired woman walked into the door, swearing as she struggled to carry a few bags of leftovers. Her face turned into a smile when she looked between Piper and Alex. Piper surmised that this woman was Alex's mother given the similarities in their faces.

"Piper, this is my mom." They both looked at Piper and she blushed.

"Hi," she said nervously. She wanted to say something else to keep the conversation from turning awkward but she didn't know what to say so she just smiled at the woman.

"Diane. You must be the one Alex has been talking about all the time!" She laughed as Alex widened her eyes in clear embarrassment and anger at her mother. "Lots of leftovers tonight from work." She offered as she placed the warm grease stained paper bags on the coffee table. Piper removed her feet from Alex's lap, quickly realizing that it wasn't exactly appropriate in front of her _girlfriends_ mother. Diane simply shook her head with a smile.

"Well I'm fuckin' exhausted, so enjoy the food girls. Alex," She raised her eyebrows and gave her daughter a knowing look as she said her name. "Be responsible."

Alex pushed her glasses up and pinched the bridge of her nose in embarrassment and Piper couldn't help but giggle at the usually composed girl's mother teasing her.

They silently devoured the burgers and fries, Diane making one more appearance for a glass of water. She stood in the kitchen and laughed silently to herself as she watched the girls eating like cavemen, amazed that Alex had finally found someone that could consume calories as quickly and ungracefully as her. She walked into the living room and dropped a roll of paper towels on the table so the girls could wipe off the condiments on something other than their shorts and returned to her room.

They finished the easy 4 meals worth of food and lay on the large couch spooning, Alex of course taking the role of big spoon. She had her hand carefully placed on Piper's stomach over her shirt, not wanting to make the young girl uncomfortable. It wasn't possible though, because Piper was in heaven. She had never _been_ more comfortable.

Piper wasn't sure what time she fell asleep, but she woke up to hear her mother and Alex speaking in hushed tones in the nearby kitchen.

"You should have let her have your bed, Al. Look at the poor girl." She kept her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, nervous to get up and interrupt the conversation since she knew Diane worked a lot and Alex didn't get to spend much time with her.

"We both slept on the couch, we just passed out. It wasn't on purpose. And yeah, look at her, she's fucking adorable mom." Piper struggled to keep a straight face.

"I know, kid. She's good at soccer, too?" Alex scoffed at the question.

"Sometimes I think she's better than me. She's perfect, mom. I just don't want to push it. She's _fourteen_." Piper's stomach dropped at the returning fear that she was too young for her. Alex spoke again.

"I don't know how I'm going to control myself." She heard a smack and a complaint from Alex.

"What! I'm only human!" Alex was laughing now and her mother groaned.

"I know, but I'm your mother!" She could hear Diane's smile.

"I know. My bad." The blonde was immediately relieved as she understood the meaning behind Alex's words.

Piper felt like this was appropriate time as any so she rolled over with a small smile on her face and saw Alex staring directly at her. She wondered how long she had been looking, becoming a little self conscious. Alex smiled at her and bit her lower lip. _Jesus Christ she's beautiful_.

Diane must have been about to leave for work because she kissed the top of Alex's head and smiled at Piper, bidding her goodbyes as she trotted out the door. Alex kneeled in front of Piper and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hi." She whispered against Piper's lips before kissing her gently on her lips, then kissing her forehead, each cheek and her nose.

"Hi," Piper giggled as the brunette continued kissing her all over her face.

"We have practice in an hour." Alex threw Piper's workout clothes onto her stomach and the two of them got ready for a long practice when they both wanted to just stay and lay in bed all day.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

 **You guys are the sweetest. Seriously the best.**

 **So I had this chapter complete on my phone and then when I retyped it up I completely changed the end. But I think I like it more this way. Anyways, I had the next chapter pretty much done but now I have to change it. So I will most likely have another update today depending on my motivation level.**

 **If you guys have any suggestions or requests please let me know! I'm not really a writer at all and this is my first fanfic so I could use constructive criticism. I'm still working out the role Piper's parents will play but I think they will be pretty uninvolved in her life until further notice.**

 **The reviews are a huge motivation! For reals. Every single one makes me smile.**

Alex did a spectacular job separating their relationship and their time during soccer practice. Piper was completely enamored with the brunette, and her ability to separate work and play just made her respect the girl even more. Sure, her eyes lingered on her girlfriend as they ran drills and did laps, but she always treated everyone equally on the field. Until it got dark.

Kerr and Peck were the coaches so of course they were technically in charge of whatever the girls did, but for the most part they handed the reins to Alex and let her control the team. And it was a good decision, because everyone seemed to have a mutual respect for the brunette. She would always join in the harder drills to prove she wasn't just making them suffer for no reason. She knew how to squash arguments in a split second, because believe it or not a bunch of girls spending all day together got in quite a few spats.

They had only been together for a few days before the next game of the season. They had won 3 in a row so far without any trouble at all, but those were less skilled teams. This week they were playing against the rival high school's team. Practices went longer and occurred more often. The girls left sore and tired every day, but they all showed up to every single practice knowing how important this win was.

Piper rolled out of bed on Tuesday morning stiff as a board. Sure, her and Alex spent nearly every waking moment playing soccer with each other, but spending this much time at practice would take a toll on anybody. She took a hot shower to relax her muscles before school, not even giving her outfit of sweats and a tee shirt a second thought. Looking good wasn't worth the trouble this morning.

When she got to Spanish class Alex was dressed similarly. She had been doing everything with the girls the past week to prepare herself for the game. They broke out in grins when they realized that they had both said _fuck it_ and wore sweats. They sat in the back of class and stole glances at each other the entire period, not caring what the other one wore.

Alex had spoken to all of the girls P.E. coaches and explained that they were working extra hard that week and had successfully gotten the period waived for all female soccer players. It was actions like this that earned Alex the utmost respect from her team.

Alex drove them off campus to a nearby park where they sat in the grass with their legs in each other's laps, massaging the sore muscles before practice began. They never did this kind of stuff on campus because it wasn't worth the risk of Danny seeing them and telling their mother. They had mutually agreed that it was a bad idea to tell Carol and never be able to have sleepovers again until Piper moved out. All in good time.

Alex pulled two cups of yogurt out of her backpack and offered one to Piper.

"No spoons?" The blonde questioned with a raised eyebrow as Alex pulled the lid off her yogurt.

"Just go like this," Alex showed her as she made a spoon out of the foil lid. The blonde attempted to copy but hers didn't turn out very well so she just tilted her head back and attempted to drink out of the container. Alex _tried_ to hold in her laughter, but couldn't hide her amusement at how ungraceful her girlfriend was.

Alex was digging through a patch of clovers near them in a poor attempt to find a four leaf clover when the smell of cigarette smoke wafted over them.

"Speak of the fuckin' devil!" Anybody would have recognized that voice. They whipped their heads around and saw Nicky with a girl about Piper's age with her. She was petite and brunette with bright red lipstick.

"Yo, what are you guys doing Saturday night?" She asked before they could even greet her.

"We have a game on Saturday but I don't think either of us are doing anything that night?" She looked at Piper who shook her head in agreement.

"Well me and Morello here are goin' to a party over at that one chicks house and I was just telling her that you two should come with us."

"That one chick?" Alex questioned. Piper had never been to a real party before and the idea kind of excited her, especially if Alex would be there to make sure nothing bad happened.

Nicky just shrugged her response and Alex looked at Piper with her eyebrows raised, waiting for her to answer. She quickly nodded.

"The lady has spoken," Alex said with finality in her voice, smirking at the eye roll her statement received from Nicky. "Just text me the address and we'll go after the game."

And that was how Piper got invited to her first real party.

The day before the game she spent the night at Alex's house. They went for a short jog before bed in hopes to tire themselves out. It worked pretty well, Piper decided as they lay in Alex's smaller bed cuddled up. Piper was in her normal position as the 'little spoon' and Alex was lazily placing kisses on her clothed back and shoulders. Eventually Piper rolled over to face Alex and the brunette turned to her back. She wrapped her arm around the blonde's shoulder and lightly played with her hair until she fell asleep with her head on her shoulder.

Gameday was always nerve-wracking for Piper. This was all still so new to her that without Alex's comfort she probably would have gone into some sort of nervous breakdown, especially since this was the biggest game of the season so far.

"You're going to be in all game, are you cool with that?" Alex asked casually, as if it was no big deal.

"All game? Are you sure? I mean shouldn't some of the older girls-" She stopped when Alex rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I don't think you realize that you're one of the best players on the team Pipes. This isn't even favoritism, we just need the win and we need you for that." Piper beamed at the thought that people _needed_ her. She had never felt this way in her life, with a large group of people relying on a skill that only she could provide (well, only her and Alex, of course).

Most of the girls took the athletics bus to go to away games, but Alex always drove. They only had one away game before now and Piper had taken the bus with the other girls, but Alex 'offered' her a ride this time (if you could call the brunette saying 'get in the fucking car, I'm not making you ride in a stinky ass bus' an offer.)

They arrived early and began stretching and warming up on the field. Piper was visibly nervous, biting her nails and tapping her feet whenever there was a lull in warm-up activities. Eventually Alex murmured something to Coach Kerr and pulled Piper to the side.

"Hey," she whispered. "You're going to do great, kid. And if you don't want to play then fuck it, don't play. But I know you're going to get us a win."

 _No pressure,_ thought Piper. But the brunette was genuine and reassuring and she believed her. She nodded her head a few times and the two of them returned to finish a couple laps around the field.

The game was close. Their defense seemed to be lacking and they got scored on 3 times. The offence, however, was on their top game. Alex and Piper seemed to be speaking telepathically through glances that lasted no longer than a millisecond, always knowing exactly where to be and when the ball would end up between their feet. Alex scored 3 goals and Piper scored 1.

The win was huge for the team, and everyone on their sideline cheered and ran onto the field to celebrate. Alex gave Piper her _I told you so_ look that normally probably would have pissed her off a little bit but she was too excited to care.

"Couldn't have done it without you, kid." Alex whispered in her ear with the sneakiest kiss to the head when they were next to each other in the post game huddle. She told everyone how great they did and that their team would go far this year, earning loud _whoops_ from the other girls. She would probably have a talk with the defenders later so she wouldn't have to ruin the moment.

Piper controlled the stereo on their small road trip back home. It was only a 3 hour drive but they stopped twice to get snacks after the amount of energy they had used up during the game. They chose to get dessert at the last top, Piper eating a King Cone while Alex ate an ice cream sandwich. Piper had to repeatedly tell the brunette _I got this_ as she skeptically eyeballed the dripping ice cream cone that was so close to her nearly perfect interior.

"You did really good today, kid. Seriously." She glanced at the blonde to show her how serious she was. "You should shoot the ball more, though. You should be getting more goals than assists the way you play."

Piper looked down. She didn't like to shoot because it felt like such a waste every time she missed a shot. She felt like she was letting everyone down and wasting all of the effort that went into getting the ball across the field. The thought crossed her mind that she was probably always afraid of disappointing people because of her mother, but she quickly changed the topic.

"So where is this party?" She asked through a mouth full of ice cream.

"It's only a few blocks away from my place. I was thinking we could walk. Or are you too tired?"

"Walking sounds good." Piper responded simply, finishing the last delicious bite of her ice cream.

They pulled up to Alex's apartment and ran inside to get changed. Piper had dropped off her change of clothes at Alex's house earlier and muttered a shitty excuse to her dad as she ran out the door before the game. She wore a simple white dress that hugged her athletic figure, and paired it with a pair of white heels. She didn't really know what anyone else would be wearing so she figured it was a safe bet, and she did love white. Her hair was stick straight and she applied her makeup a little more heavy-handedly than usual.

Alex came out of the bathroom with her hair up in what Piper could only describe was the sexiest hairstyle she had ever seen. The front was pulled back in an intricate updo but she left the majority of the jet black hair in loose curls down her shoulders. Her makeup was perfect as usual and she wore black leathery pants that hugged her hips insanely closely with a black long sleeve shirt with symmetrical holes spanning from one shoulder to the other, just barely exposing her perfect cleavage. They both stared at each other speechlessly, used to seeing one another in workout shorts and baggy shirts with sports bras on.

"Wow. You look really good, Alex. Is it weird to wear a dress? I didn't really know what to wear and this is all I brought..." She trailed off to end her rambling awkwardly.

"You look fucking perfect." Alex's eyes were filled with desire and she shook her head before offering a hand to the blonde.

The party was well underway when they finally arrived. The door was wide open and Alex walked in first, grabbing Piper's hand to usher her into the kitchen where the drinks were.

"You don't have to drink. You're probably the youngest person here so nobody would judge you." Piper just shrugged indifferently, but when she looked around and saw how much fun everyone seemed to be having she decided she wanted to give it a shot.

"Can I have one that's not very strong?" She asked with hope in her eyes. Alex laughed and handed her a bottle of hard lemonade before pouring herself a rum and coke. They hung out with Nicky for a few minutes before she murmured something about finding Lorna and wandered off into the crowd.

It was that night that Piper learned how much of a lightweight she was. Everything was fine at first, as Alex dragged her to the living room where everyone was dancing. They had already scoped out the place and felt safe that they didn't need to worry about being romantic. They danced for a few minutes before they both started complaining about being sore from the game, so they returned to the kitchen. The next thing Piper knew, her and Alex were playing beer pong against two guys. They each picked a person on the opposite team to drink for and of course the guy Piper ended up with was making every shot. Alex constantly reminded her that she didn't _need_ to drink but she insisted for the sake of the game. Alex won them the game but not after Piper had finished about 6 more drinks.

The next thing Piper knew she was being practically carried back to Alex's house by the brunette. Her cheek was on Alex's shoulder and she inhaled deeply through her nose and lifted her head up, looking around as they stumbled toward the front door.

She was immediately tucked into the bed and she lay there for a few moments before beginning to doze off. She didn't realize Diane was home until she heard hushed voices again.

"Mom I feel awful. She's way too young. I didn't realize how much she was drinking." This was clearly Alex. Her voice was almost whiny.

"You have to be careful, Al." Her mother scolded her.

"I know, mom. Fuck. I feel like such an asshole. Do you think she's gonna be okay?" Alex sounded genuinely worried.

"Yeah, baby. She'll be fine. She might not want to drink for a while though."

Someone pulled a chair back and sat down with the loud thump of a forehead or a fist on the table, Piper wasn't sure which.

"Honey, she'll be fine. She has to learn her limits." Alex groaned in response.

Piper felt a wave on nausea and her entire body immediately felt hot. She groaned loudly and Alex was kneeling on the ground next to her in seconds.

"Are you okay?" She spoke quickly, clearly worried as hell. Piper scrunched her face up and Alex quickly helped her to the bathroom where she immediately released most of the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Alex held her hair back and rubbed gentle circles on her back with her hand. Her body heaved a few more times and she felt herself shiver from the cold porcelain her forehead was now rested against. She felt a warm rag on the back of her neck sniffled a few times, too embarrassed to look at Alex.

"Hey," Alex whispered in her ear. "Do you think you're done? The faster you go to sleep the better." Piper groaned once more and nodded, still avoiding eye contact with her girlfriend. Alex practically carried her to the bed and gently let her down, covering her with the comforter. She kicked it off because her body was still too hot and Alex let out a short laugh at the dramatic motion.

She fell asleep as the brunette ran her fingers through her hair and pressed a few kisses onto her temple, watching her closely to make sure she was okay.

Piper woke up and her mouth was completely dry. Alex was already awake, sitting up against the wall reading a book. She quickly shut it, not even bothering to mark the page as she handed Piper a glass of water. She gratefully chugged the entire glass, which apparently wasn't what you're supposed to do when you're hungover because she felt a wave of nausea and groaned.

"You're supposed to sip it," Alex muttered with a sympathetic look on her face. Piper's eyebrows creased and she stuck out her lower lip slightly, trying to convey how awful she felt without speaking.

Piper spent the whole day being nursed back to health by the brunette. She would be lying if she said she didn't feel a little uncomfortable, not just because of the hangover. She felt young. She was severely embarrassed that Alex was seeing her like this. Her makeup was never removed and probably smudged all over her face. She vaguely remembered overhearing Alex and her mother talk about her as if she was a child. It returned that fear that Alex would eventually realize Piper was too young for her to waste her time.

Alex didn't seem to pick up on this though, probably just figuring she wasn't feeling well. Alex was really good at taking care of her. She seemed to know what the blonde needed before even she did, and it made Piper wonder how many times Alex had been in this position. Probably a lot since everyone must invite her to parties all the time. If she ever threw a party she would definitely invite Alex.

It should have made her more uncomfortable that Diane was there and saw her like that when they got home but for some reason it didn't. She already felt more at home here than she usually did at her own house. Piper's parents always made sure she had designer clothes on her back and ate organic vegetables. They were surely going to buy her a luxury car on her 16th birthday and her bedroom was worth thousands of dollars. But whenever she saw her mother she felt like a complete disappointment. Especially lately, since her mother wasn't all aboard with her soccer infatuation. She didn't know about her Alex infatuation. She didn't tell Piper to stop playing but she made sure her daughter knew just how unladylike the sport was. Eventually she realized that she had no reason to be uncomfortable here, especially after imagining having to go through this at home without Alex playing nurse.

They now sat on Alex's couch, the brunette fully dressed in jeans and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed to her elbows. Piper wore one of her girlfriends oversized tee shirts and her underwear. If she had been dating anyone else she never would have dressed like this around them, but Alex made her feel so comfortable and she knew she would never try to push her boundaries. Sometimes she would randomly shut her eyes and take a deep breath after she looked over at Piper. The blonde wasn't really sure why, probably just because she felt bad that she didn't feel well or something.

Alex's legs were placed on the coffee table and Piper's were gently resting over her thighs while they worked on Spanish homework. Alex had her notebook on top of Piper's shins and was writing down a summary of a story they were reading in class.

Piper looked up at the ceiling and squinted her eyes.

"You should write down, _Daniela era una puta presumida,_ I mean come on, she was so annoying."

Alex frowned and looked at Piper.

"Presumida?"

"She was a smug bitch, Alex!" Piper said as if it was obvious and Alex should have mastered all of their commonly used insults in Spanish.

Alex just snorted and shook her head, looking back down at the paper in front of her. Piper huffed dramatically and kicked her legs up, causing the notebook to fall between the couch and the table.

"This is boring, lets finish later." She paused for a second and ignored the _what the fuck?_ look Alex was giving her. "Ohmygod. I just realized how hungry I am right now. Can we make something to eat?"

Alex laughed and didn't respond, just removed her girlfriends legs from atop hers and lazily walked to the kitchen, scratching her head as she looked in the fridge for something to cook.

"Pipes there's not really anything to work with in here."

The blonde huffed again and walked over to nudge Alex away and take over the search for food. She pulled out a bunch of veggies that Alex had completely ignored and placed them on the table. It was around this time that Diane walked in the door but remained standing hear the doorway and just watched what was unfolding in front of her, completely unnoticed by the determined blonde and confused brunette.

"You have ramen right?" The blonde asked absentmindedly as she sorted through the pile on the table.

"Uhh, yeah?" Alex looked severely confused. Piper just grinned and started cutting up various vegetables as Alex cooked the ramen as instructed. 4 packs of it, because they were bottomless pits. She threw away the chicken flavor packets and Alex looked at her like she just kicked a puppy but still watched amusedly as she stretched onto her tip toes to grab the wok from the top of the fridge exposing her panties. She filled the wok with the ramen, teriyaki sauce, and veggies and made a variation of stirfry.

They dumped it in one large bowl and grabbed two forks before returning to the couch where they finally noticed Diane who was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"I love the teamwork girls, but are you guys seriously going to eat all of that?" She questioned skeptically.

Piper glanced at Alex and they shared a look in silent agreement. Even though they had already planned on eating it all they now saw it as a challenge, and nobody was more down for a challenge than 14 year old Piper Chapman and 17 year old Alex Vause, not even Barney Stinson from _How I Met Your Mother_. Especially when it involved food. They quickly grabbed their forks and begin literally devouring the meal, barely chewing as they inhaled noodles and vegetables.

Diane stood with a look of horror on her face at the scene she had accidentally created. Piper looked up at Alex right as she stuffed a forkful into her already overflowing mouth and couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably. Most of the noodles that were in her mouth fell back into the bowl but a few of them fell onto her still bare legs as her head fell back and she worked hard not to choke on the food that was still in her mouth. This sight must have been pretty amusing because soon Alex was laughing just as hard, covering her mouth with her hand and managing to look a little less savage than the teriyaki sauce covered blonde in front of her.

"You girls be careful, you're gonna choke yourselves to death!"

This made Piper laugh even harder. She had managed to swallow the food that was in her mouth but she still struggled to breathe as tears rolled down her cheeks. They were an absolute mess, and Piper thought for a second that this was what pure happiness felt like, and that if they were at her house this never would have happened because her mother would have ripped that bowl right out of their hands and replaced it with something much more healthy than ramen. But Diane stood and laughed with the girls and it was completely silly but they all just egged each other on more and more. Alex looked so unbelievably happy that it made Piper's heart swell with pride that they were having so much fun together doing something as simple as eating souped up ramen on a worn out couch.

Eventually their laughter died down and Piper offered the fork to Diane. Alex didn't share her utensil as she resumed eating, but Diane declined the offer from the blonde.

"Honey, I just saw half of that come out your mouth and fall back into the bowl, no thanks." Piper smiled sheepishly and Alex just pressed her lips together, shrugged, and shoved another forkful of noodles into her mouth. Had she not been so busy stuffing her face Piper was sure she would have made her usual inappropriate joke about them sharing saliva causing her to blush and Diane to smack her on the arm.

Piper must have fallen asleep into a food coma because she woke up to hear Alex and her mother speaking in hushed tones in the kitchen _again_. This was becoming a familiar situation to her and she wondered if they talked about her whenever she wasn't conscious or if she just woke up to the sound of her own name being whispered. She figured there wasn't really much privacy in the house so it wasn't that strange.

"I don't care what she wears, Al. I just want to make sure you can control yourself. We both know how you can get." Piper's heart rate picked up a little bit. _How Alex can get?_

"Mom are you seriously having the talk with me right now?" Alex sighed before continuing. "It's not like I'm going to take advantage of her. I have self control." _Oh._

Diane remained silent.

"I mean sure, sometimes it takes everything in me to stop but... I don't want to push her. We haven't even gotten to second base. I'm too happy to fuck it up mom, I swear."

Still silence from Diane. Alex was pretty much talking to herself at this point.

"Okay, my showers have been a lot colder than normal." The distinct sound of Diane smacking Alex, probably on the arm and Alex snickered.

"You have no filter, kid." It made Piper smile to hear Alex being the one referred to as a kid.

"I do so!" Alex argued. Piper thought she could feel the brunette looking at her if that was even possible. Those eyes _did_ probably have super powers. Alex took a deep breath and murmured something that Piper couldn't hear. It sounded like she was speaking into her mother's shoulder. She could hear Diane's response though.

"I know you do, kid."


	8. Chapter 8

**So this one is just really a filler chapter. It's short and not super exciting and mostly fluff but I said I would most likely get another chapter up today so here you guys go. Next update will most likely be in a few days and stuff will start picking up somewhat soon. I don't like to rush.**

 **Thanks once again for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I really appreciate them. Especially the reviews.**

Eventually Piper dressed herself and they left the apartment for the first time that day.

"Where are we going?" Piper asked as she sat inelegantly into the low seat of Alex's car. Alex gave her a mischievous look.

"Wanna get the fuck out of this town for the day?" Alex was sitting with her eyebrows raised, just waiting for the "OK" from her girlfriend. She nodded excitedly and the engine roared to life. Piper didn't know where they were going but she decided not to ask. She knew Alex liked to be mysterious and spontaneous, so why ruin that?

Alex granted Piper the role of DJ and they sang (off tune and out of rhythm) to a mix between classics and new pop songs, even the occasional rap song. The drive was only two hours but it was through back roads so when Piper finally couldn't hold it anymore she had to pee on the side of the road while Alex 'tried' not to laugh at her tripping over her own pants.

Eventually they arrived at their top secret destination. It was a huge beach with acres upon acres of untouched dark sand. The dry sand was warm between the blondes bare toes and they wandered out aimlessly, soccer ball under Alex's arm of course. The tide was way out. It was probably over a mile between them and the actual ocean. The sun was out and there was a slight breeze but it was perfect weather to walk around the untouched flats. They had ditched their shoes before even coming close to the sand but their jeans were already soaking up the water from the small pools of salt water they walked through. They didn't care.

Piper spun around with her arms out and a grin on her face as Alex backed away and kicked her the ball. They were still close enough to talk so they chatted about anything and everything as they lazily passed the ball back and forth, occasionally popping the ball up in the air with a foot to juggle it on their knees, not caring about the dark wet patches of sand that it left on their jeans.

Piper found a stick on the ground and began writing her name in huge letters while Alex worked on perfecting her rainbow kicks. There was a lull in the conversation and the only sound that could be heard was the occasional tapping of Alex's heels on the ball followed by a _splat_ when it landed on the sand, paired with the sound of Piper dragging her stick across the flats. Piper dotted the i in her name with a heart.

"Pipes look!" Alex sounded like a kid bringing home a macaroni necklace to a proud mother. She kicked the ball up behind her but it came with a large glob of the sand clay mixture and it landed on her shoulder. Her face fell flat as her showing off failed miserably and the blonde burst out in laughter. This of course prompted a sand flinging fight that lasted for god knows how long - the two of them seemed to never wear themselves out. Alex skillfully dodged every one of the blonde's attempts to fling sand on her.

"Well I see why you play soccer. Are you even aiming for me?" Piper narrowed her eyes at the challenge and sprinted for the brunette, surprising her with a handful of sand down the back of her shirt.

"You. Little. Shit." Alex had her on the ground in mere seconds. Normally Piper would have freaked out at being so covered in sand and dirt and whatever else had made its way out to the small pools of water but right now she could care less. Her back was completely drenched and she shrieked as Alex held half of a tiny dead crab over her face.

She knew Alex would never drop it on to her but even being near the thing was making her squirm. Alex flung it over her shoulder and leaned down, kissing the blonde softly on the lips as her sandy dark hair created a curtain around their faces.

Alex's hands were holding her up and sinking slowly into the mucky sand, their torsos pressing together as their tongues danced in each other's mouths lazily. Piper let her fingertips trail over the flexing muscles in Alex's arms and down her back and up into the back of her shirt. This was a first for Piper. She had never ventured under Alex's clothing in this sense before but the more time she spend with Alex the more comfortable she became.

Alex's tongue stopped moving against the blonde's as her fingers made contact with the skin of her back and she took a deep breath. Piper stilled her motions but Alex rolled off and lay next to her on her back. Piper felt her stomach flip as she thought that she might have pushed a boundary with the new exploration. The blonde chewed on her lower lip and watched the clouds go by for a few minutes before Alex broke the silence.

"I really like you, Piper." The blonde smiled and Alex continued. "I want you to tell me if I ever do anything that makes you uncomfortable... Like, you know..." She trailed off awkwardly and turned no her side, further soaking her clothing as she brushed a sandy piece of hair behind the blonde's ear. Piper just nodded and the sound of sand grinding against the back of her head filled her ears for a brief moment.

"And if you don't want to... You know... For a long time. That's cool. I would rather get myself off and be with you than... Yeah." Alex was clearly uncomfortable and it _barely_ sounded like something you would hear in a health class. Piper blushed at the thought of Alex "getting herself off". She intertwined her fingers with Alex's and looked over at her with a small smile on her lips. Alex sat up and traced undefined shapes in the sand with her free hand, eyes directed at the ground. Piper was filled with gratitude that Alex was being _so patient_ with her in their relationship. She never had to tell the brunette to stop doing anything because she seemed to know the boundaries of what Piper was okay with. But at the same time she was excruciatingly flirtatious and knew exactly how to make the blonde's heart flutter. It was these things that made Piper love Alex. _Wait, love her? Is it too soon for that?_ They sat in silence, both clearly deep in thought. The blonde wondered if that was what Alex said to her mother earlier but didn't want to get her hopes up. The word was stuck in her head now, though. She decided she would wait until Alex said it so she wouldn't fuck anything up.

"Thank you." She said quietly, knowing that Alex understood just how thankful she was.

They watched the clouds go by for a while, occasionally pointing out the ones that were shaped like different animals or hearts. They turned to face each other and Alex stared at Piper. Like, really stared at her. The blonde didn't know what to do with the attention so she stared back.

Eventually the sun began to set and they walked back to the car before it was too dark and cold. They passed the soccer ball back and forth creating a zigzag pattern in the sand behind them. Occasionally Piper stopped to grab a shell she liked or a particularly smooth rock, while Alex was more drawn to the creatures that swam in the small pools.

When they got back to the car Alex bit the inside of her lip as she looked down at their sandy bodies and back to the beloved interior of her car. Piper made an apologetic face.

"You know what, fuck it." She brushed off her pants to her best ability and Piper followed suit. Alex opened the door and shut her eyes as she sat down, obviously hating what she was doing to the car. Piper remained outside feeling awful and not wanting to damage the interior, but Alex opened her door from the inside.

"Hey, it's not that big of a deal. It's worth it." She sounded genuine and more relaxed so Piper reluctantly sat down in the car. Piper briefly wondered if she meant _today_ was worth it or if _she_ was worth it. The blonde fell asleep at some point on the drive back listening to the sound of Alex's quiet humming to the music and the occasional spooling of the turbo as the brunette drove them back to town.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

 **Thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows!**

 **I'm still not sure how I feel about this chapter, so you guys should let me know what you think. I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I honestly spent more time in the last couple days writing out future chapters but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging or get to wrapped in future stuff and lose momentum. Not really much else to say so... let me know what you think!**

The girls went shopping for their Halloween costumes together. Well, Piper dragged a complaining Alex with her. Nicky was throwing a party and they promised to help set up the day of, and they had put off going costume shopping until the day before.

"But Alex, don't you want to see me dressed all sexy?" She asked in her best flirty voice. Piper was becoming a little more comfortable being flirtatious with Alex, but she knew when to draw the line so she wouldn't leave her girlfriend completely miserable.

Alex obediently followed the younger girl into the store. Piper grabbed a few costumes and the brunette surprised her by grabbing some as well. Piper grabbed some more conservative costumes and Alex grabbed the sluttiest ones she could find.

"Al, there's no way you would wear any of that stuff." Piper argued as they walked to the changing rooms.

"They're not for me," She whispered with a pat to Piper's ass as she passed the bags to the blonde and turned on her heel to walk away. Piper tried on a few of the costumes before she got stuck in a slutty cop outfit Alex had chosen for her.

"Al," she whined, hoping that the brunette was still within hearing distance. Apparently she was sitting right outside the door.

"What's up?"

"I kind of... Could you... I'm stuck." Piper stammered.

"Oh. I can go get you someone..." Alex trailed off as she looked around.

"Just come in here." She cracked the door open and hid behind it as Alex slipped in. She took one long glance at Piper before averting her eyes to the wall. Piper's bottom half was only covered by a white pair of lacy panties that did little to hide her body. Her toned and tanned torso was exposed too, and Alex's eyes flicked back once more taking in the definition of her hip bones and the toned muscles surrounding her adorable belly button. Alex bit her lip and thanked god that the costume was over Piper's head so she couldn't see her face. She uncaught the zipper from Piper's hair and gingerly slid the dress off.

"Thanks," Piper whispered and leaned forward, kissing Alex on the lips. Alex started to pull away but the blonde grabbed her by her cheeks and deepened the kiss. Her intent wasn't to torture her girlfriend by any means, but she couldn't help but want to kiss her all the time. It was only natural, right?

Alex's hands were awkwardly hanging at her sides and she lifted them to awkwardly hang in the air instead. Her fingers were flexed and it was clearly taking everything in her to just stand there, so Piper grabbed her hands and placed them on her bare hips. Alex groaned into Piper's mouth as she carefully caressed the new skin. Alex pulled her face back and looked down at her hands on the toned muscles, wanting to see her hands finally in contact with the girl's torso. She bit her cheeks visibly hard and Piper wondered if it was cruel for her to do these things if she wasn't ready to have sex yet.

Piper's eyes met the green ones in front of her and she saw an entirely new look in them. She couldn't describe it.

Alex's lips captured hers once more as her thumbs lightly rubbed her hip bones, raising goose bumps all over the blonde's stomach. The way they were kissing always grossed Piper out when she saw other people doing it, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't severely enjoying it when she was the one involved. It was messy and desperate and it made her toes curl.

Eventually Alex pulled away leaving Piper panting with pink cheeks. She shuffled through the costumes and handed it to the blonde to try on. She took this as a sign that Alex had reached the cusp of her self control. The blonde accepted one of the less slutty ones (which didn't say much given Alex's choices) which happened to be an angel costume. Alex slid the costume over her and straightened it out, backing away to see how it looked. And then Piper's knees wobbled as she heard a soft moan from the brunette's lips.

"This one has my vote." It was all Piper needed to hear.

"What about you?" She asked as Alex rushed them to the checks stand.

"I don't need one, everyone will be checking you out anyways." Piped blushed but made a beeline back to the costumes. She held up a devil costume and looked at Alex with her best puppy dog eyes.

"What are you trying to say?" The brunette asked with mock hurt in her voice. Piper didn't respond, just continued with the facial expression until Alex sighed and grabbed the costume without even trying it on.

* * *

It wasn't until the next day that Piper saw Alex in the costume. She was getting ready in Alex's bedroom when the brunette appeared behind her in the full length mirror on the wall. Her blonde hair was hanging in large loose curls and she wore a headband with a fuzzy halo. She wore less eye makeup and her pinks and lips were a light pink. The dress fit her perfectly, strapless and reaching her mid thighs to not expose too much skin but still remain sexy and fun. Alex's hands were on her waist and she turned to see the brunette's costume.

It wasn't much. As in, there wasn't much material. _So much_ of her pale skin was visible. The tight red corset made her curves much more prominent than her usual workout attire and her breasts were practically spilling out of the top. The skirt portion was meant to be short on normal people, so Alex's extremely long legs were very exposed. Alex looked pissed off. _Hot_... But pissed off. They stared at each other for a few minutes before the flash of a camera went off.

Diane was standing in the doorway and when Alex turned to face her she spoke.

"Jesus Alex, are you seriously leaving the house like that?" The brunette grabbed the sides of the corset under her arms and tried to pull it up to cover her chest a little more but it just pushed her breasts up more and the skirt was now barely covering her ass cheeks. Piper blushed and both of the Vause's scoffed at the inappropriate outfit.

"Once again, this is why you try stuff on before you buy it, kid." This must have been a somewhat common occurrence in the Vause household.

"Well it's a little late now." Alex snapped, clearly frustrated at being wrong and now having no other options. All of the stores were surely stripped by now, and they had promised to be at Nicky's in less than an hour.

"Well, _you_ look great Piper." Piper smiled and Alex glared at her mother. Diane knew Alex could take care of herself and wouldn't try to stop her from leaving the house like that, but she knew her daughter was uncomfortable.

They decided that since there weren't many options they would drive around and try to find an open store on the way to Nicky's, and off they went.

They were lucky enough to find one store that was open. Alex was now wearing a long black coat to try to hide _some_ of her exposed skin, but it just made her look like she was naked under it.

Piper rushed right to the costumes and immediately squealed. She held up a referee costume that was essentially a sports bra and a skirt with stripes on them.

"Pipes, the whole point of this is to find something that isn't practically lingerie."

"I knoooow, but the skirt is longer and at least it covers..." She glanced at Alex's mostly exposed breasts. "Those."

Alex smirked and grabbed the costume to try it on.

When she came out of the changing room her girlfriend squealed and clapped her hands together. A little bit of cleavage was showing but it was much more appropriate in that sense. The skirt was definitely longer but still showed off her long legs. Her stomach was completely exposed.

She huffed.

"I guess it's better than that fucking thing," she motioned to the small piece of red fabric that lay on the floor.

They bought the costume and got in the car to go to Nicky's house.

* * *

Lorna opened the door wearing a cop outfit, immediately talking their ears off as she walked them into the house. The amount of food and alcohol was astounding, but Nicky's mother was wealthy and guilty so it was understandable.

"Look at this slut!" Nicky greeted Alex with a huge grin on her face and Alex just mumbled something under her breath, clearly still pissed off about the whole situation. Nicky was dressed as a prisoner and it made Piper wish that Alex had been able to match her as well. It was her first real Halloween party and her first real relationship, but she was still happy to be here matching costumes or not.

After about an hour of setting out food and dancing around to music the party was fully underway. Nicky had invited a lot of people that weren't from school but her and Alex seemed to know almost everyone there. Everyone was drinking and people were smoking that Piper assumed was weed in nearly every room in the house. She had one drink but decided not to push her luck and stay mostly sober this time. Alex did the same, constantly checking on Piper after the fiasco last time. It made the blonde feel like she was her daughter or something, like she didn't think she could take care of herself.

Eventually Piper got overwhelmed and made her way out to the deck. Her breath was visible in the cold but her face was still flushed from the flood of emotions she was feeling. She felt _good_ because she was invited to this party and everyone was being nice. She felt _dumb_ because Alex kept checking on her to make sure she was okay. She felt _nervous_ because all of these older people seemed to know Alex so well and they seemed like the kind of people she had been warned to stay away from her whole life. She was certainly the youngest person there and she felt like everyone knew just by looking at her.

Someone sat down on the deck next to her and she looked over to see an older guy, probably in college. He was big, probably a football player or something, looking like a typical frat guy. He had a beer in his hand and a cigarette or a joint in the other. Piper assumed it was a joint because of the smell, but she wasn't sure due to her lack of experience with the drug.

"You don't look too happy," he said, sounding almost worried about her. She just shrugged and looked back out to the small forest of trees across the lawn. She wondered why everyone kept _worrying_ about her. She just wanted to be a part of the group and have fun like everyone else, but she was being treated like she was when her parents threw dinner parties.

"This would cheer you up." Her offered her the joint that was between his fingers and she stared at it for a second before carefully taking it. She didn't know if she was going to smoke it, but she didn't get a chance to decide as her head whipped around at the voice behind her.

"Piper!" Alex sounded angry. She had heard Alex angry before but never at her. The brunette sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I've been looking all over for you. You scared the shit out of me."

So she wasn't mad, just worried? Like everyone was. All the time. Because she's always the young one that needs taking care of. Piper just looked down at her white heels without responding. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to apologize for not following Alex around, and she knew that wasn't what the brunette was looking for.

"Get that shit out of here, man." Alex was talking to frat guy now, and he took the joint back from Piper before walking inside with a shrug.

Alex sat next to her with a sigh.

"What are you doing out here?" Okay, she definitely wasn't mad. She sounded... Sad?

Piper shrugged.

"I guess I just needed some air." She tried to sound indifferent but did a very poor job.

"What's wrong, Pipes?" Alex played with a curl of blonde hair and looked into her blue eyes.

"I just... Everyone's treating me like a little kid. I just don't fit in here." She looked back at her feet.

"Hey... Hey." She returned her eyes to Alex's. "You don't want to fit in with most of these people anyways."

Piper felt a rush of anger. She wasn't mad at Alex but the brunette was here and she couldn't control herself. She stood up quickly.

"Then why am I here?!" She shouted at Alex with anger for the first time in her life. Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her back down gently.

"Hey. You're right, this was a bad idea." Piper sighed and lay her head on Alex's shoulder, immediately feeling awful for yelling at Alex. She didn't want to be the reason Alex couldn't hang out with her friends and go to parties. It wasn't Alex's fault that she was uncomfortable, and her age wasn't something either of them could control. Yes, the brunette was patient and kind and treated Piper with complete respect, but she shouldn't have to miss parties and lose friends because they make the blonde uncomfortable. A person can only take so much.

Alex nodded her head toward the yard and for the first time since sitting down the blonde noticed a soccer ball sitting in the grass. A small smile crept onto her face and they walked over to the ball. They took off their shoes and began to juggle the ball back and forth.

They were interrupted by two guys that neither of them knew.

"You guy wanna play?" One of them asked. Piper looked at Alex and bit back a smile. Sure, they were older and bigger than the girls. Sure, they definitely played for a college team judging by their lazy costumes that were just soccer uniforms. Sure, it was dark outside and both girls had no shoes on. But it didn't matter, because Piper and Alex were unstoppable when they played as a team.

They set up makeshift goals with potted plants and lawn ornaments. The guys insisted that the girls start with the ball because 'it's only fair'. Their cockiness was just making it more fun for the girls. Alex surprised the blonde by poorly controlling the ball and it was quickly stolen from between her feet. Piper looked at her confused, knowing she was rarely one to lose the ball, but Alex just pressed her lips together to hold back her grin. _Oh, she's fucking with them._ Piper pretended to try to steal the ball and one of the guys narrowly avoided her poor attempt and kicked the ball between a flower pot and a bird bath that made up the goal. The girls pretended to be bummed out but let the guys score another goal before they began to actually play. Alex was across the field before either guy could steal the ball away. The ball was between Piper's feet at the exact moment she expected and the ball was through the goal in seconds. The girls smirked at the obvious surprise on the guys faces and returned to the middle of the yard. The guys started with the ball but they might as well have handed it to Piper because in seconds she was on the other side of the yard passing the ball to Alex. She saw Alex look around to see how much space she had around her and watched in what felt like slow motion as the brunette kicked the ball up behind her and over her head with a well practiced rainbow kick and the ball landed perfectly in front of her. One small tap of the foot and the ball tumbled through the goal.

The guys gave up after the 5th goal in a row scored by the girls. They tried to get them to come back to their frat house but Alex quickly put her arm around Piper's waist protectively and told them no. They left them dumbfounded standing on the field as they walked together toward Alex's car. They sat in comfortable silence during the short ride back to Alex's house. The blonde saw Alex sneak a few glances at her and noticed as her grip on the steering wheel became tighter. Piper decided to stay the night. She knew she was always welcome at the Vause household, and it seemed like her parents were busy paying attention to her less disappointing brothers. She wasn't complaining.

Alex guided Piper against the door and they kissed hungrily. Piper's hands found their way to Alex's bare waist as Alex removed Piper's headband without breaking the kiss. Piper moaned softly as she felt Alex take her lower lip between her teeth and pull away gently. The kisses moved to her jaw and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up while she closed her eyes at the feeling of the brunettes soft lips on her skin.

"Alex," Piper whispered quietly causing the brunette to immediately stop what she was doing and pull back.

"Sorry." Piper couldn't help but notice as the brunette dug her fingernails into her own palms.

"No I was just... We should go inside." Her hands were still on Alex's waist and she could feel her let out a deep breath before she scooted the blonde over and opened the door.

"Well that costume isn't really much better, Al." Diane said from the couch with raised eyebrows.

"Fuck, mom!" Alex shouted, grabbing her chest in fright. Piper had been looking at Diane but when she saw the knowing look on the woman's face she turned her gaze to Alex who had pink lip gloss smeared around her entire mouth. Piper felt immediate heat rise to her cheeks but was thankful that Alex wasn't wearing her lipstick because surely it would have been all over her. Apparently Alex couldn't tell it as on her face because she frowned and look between the two of them.

"What? You scared the shit out of me." Neither of them responded so she continued. " _Anyways_ , we're both really tired so..." She began moving toward the bedroom but her mother stopped her.

"Al, come here for a second." Piper continued walking to the bedroom but left the door open and she could hear certain words of the whisper-shouting from the living room. _Fourteen_ and _drinking_ came from Diane, and Alex's voice came back with _one drink_ and _I know how old she is_. Piper sat awkwardly on the bed in her costume, not having any pajamas and being afraid to get Alex in more trouble. Eventually though, she heard Alex laugh and her mother say her name in a scolding, so it must have been fine.

Finally Alex returned with a smirk on her now lip gloss free lips. She stripped to her bra and underwear and climbed into her bed past Piper who was still sitting there in her uncomfortable costume.

"Hey, you coming to bed?" Alex scooted closer to the wall to make room in the small bed. Piper nodded before taking off the costume and laying in bed next to Alex. She felt strong arms wrap around her and pull her flush against the brunettes front. The skin to skin contact brought up her heart rate a little bit, but Alex's arms remained away from her bra and panties. She began to giggle as the brunettes fingertips traced shapes on her bare stomach and rolled over to face Alex. Her face was covered in quick kisses and she couldn't stop giggling now. She only had one drink but it _was_ a little strong and she was a lightweight, so she tried to blame the giggles on that even though she knew Alex was the cause for her giddiness. Alex stopped the tickling just before it drove Piper insane and grabbed both of her hands, bringing them to her lips so she could kiss the girls knuckles. When she pulled her face back her smile was gone and Piper's slowly found its way off her face as well.

"I love you, Pipes." And Piper's smile was back on her face in seconds, eyes squinting and dimples forming with pure happiness.

"I love you too, Al." She whispered back and rested her head on the pillow as they stared at each other. Piper's eyelids quickly became heavy and she found herself drifting off, but not before whispering it one more time.

"I love you."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

 **Decided to skip over the holidays. Since this is pretty much all Piper's point of view and her parents are pretty absent I didn't have much to write about.**

 **Also someone mentioned (rightfully) that this isn't really rated M. Things are progressing much slower than I had intended but it seems to work somewhat well for this story (correct me if I'm wrong) so yeah, it's getting there.**

 **Anyways, thank you thank you thank you for the feedback!**

The holidays came and went quickly. Piper spent most of her time with Alex studying for school and playing soccer for the winter months. They had found what Piper was and wasn't comfortable with and Alex never pushed those boundaries. Piper only felt guilty a few times when she could see Alex's jaw clenching as she looked at her or when she bit her knuckles to stop herself during a particularly steamy makeout session. Piper's parents were still oblivious to their relationship and were becoming extremely absent in Piper's life. She was very thankful for that.

Their team was 19-0-3 and headed to the championship. The game was in Oregon so they flew there as a team. Somehow all of the away games had been within driving distance until now, but it had to happen eventually. The plane was leaving at 10pm but Piper was asleep by 6pm after the all day practice the team had endured in preparation for the championship.

Alex must had stayed awake the whole time because Piper woke up to find a half full pizza box on her stomach. She lifted her head up in confusion when she realized that Alex was sitting on her bed playing FIFA and had used her as a table. She had a piece of crust in her mouth and she glanced at Piper out of the corner of her eye while still playing the game.

"Hey babe," She mumbled through the food. "I got you pizza."

"Alex it kind of looks like you got _you_ pizza." She was a little bit grumpy from being so tired but could see the humor in the situation anyways.

Alex just shrugged with a crooked grin and went back to her game. Piper looked around the room and noticed that her suitcase was sitting by the door. She watched Alex concentrating on the game, facial expression perfectly giving away when she stole or lost the ball to the person she was playing against online.

"Mmm... I don't want to finish packing..." The blonde complained quietly to herself.

"You're good to go. I was bored." Piper's eyebrows raised. Alex always _hated_ packing and made sure to complain before every away game. Alex was still concentrating on her game but continued talking to Piper between curses at her opponent. "Your passport is in your purse... _motherfucker..._ and uhh... _god damn it..._ Kerr still has our tickets."

Piper relaxed back onto the bed with a smile and started eating the lukewarm pizza. She watched as Alex struggled but managed to win the game. She sat the controller down and scooted back next to Piper on the bed.

"So you ready for the big game?" Alex nudged Piper's side. Her stomach flipped at the thought of the game. She had been trying to hide her anxiousness but Alex could see right through it. She groaned and buried her head in Alex's neck.

"But seriously, you have to be more confident. You're really good. Our team is really good." Piper just nodded, not wanting to talk about it anymore. The alarm on Alex's phone went off and she stood to grab Piper's suitcase and head down to the taxi that was patiently waiting for them. When Piper got downstairs the brunette told her to wait in the car and loaded their bags into the trunk. She was shivering uncontrollably since the driver seemed to be totally fine with freeing to death with the heat turned off on the cold night. Alex got into the car shortly after and looked at Piper before throwing her arms up and speaking to the driver.

"Does the sound of teeth chattering mean nothing to you? She's fucking freezing back here dude." He rolled his eyes and Alex scoffed before wrapping her arms around Piper to keep her warm.

When they arrived Alex strong armed all of the luggage ignoring Piper's complaints that she wanted to help. She stood to the side and spoke to Kerr and Peck for a little while as Piper messed around on her phone and checked her Facebook. When Alex returned she had 2 tickets and a smirk on her face. Apparently she convinced Kerr and Peck that she and Piper should sit in the isolated seats instead of the coaches since the blonde was afraid of flying.

They ended up with a window and middle seat and Piper refused to sit next to the window. She was practically in Alex's lap anyways, though. She made it through takeoff by scrunching up her face and grabbing Alex's hand.

Once they were in the air Alex distracted the young girl with kisses that were maybe a little too long considering all of the teammates on the plane. The guy next to them seemed to be fine, even enjoying the extra leg room due to the snuggling teens. The lights were off and Piper eventually dozed back off on Alex's shoulder and when she was woken up they had just landed.

She was barely conscious as they piled into taxis. They shared a taxi with both of the coaches, Piper in the middle between Alex and Coach Peck while Coach Kerr sat in the passenger seat. Piper was fighting hard not to rest her head back on Alex's shoulder but she made it through the short cab ride without falling asleep. The hotel was surprisingly nice - apparently making it to the championship earned them a luxurious hotel stay for their 2 nights away from home.

Of course Alex had pulled her strings and gotten them a room together. It was kind of strange that she was able to control everyone around her with such ease, but at the same time it made perfect sense.

Their room was pretty small with one queen sized bed and a bathroom being pretty much the entire contents. They both immediately fell into the bed, leaving their bags forgotten by the door as they fell asleep in jeans and tee shirts half way under the covers.

The wakeup call from the coaches was abrupt, 3 loud knocks and a couple mornings greetings tore Piper from her sleep. Alex was still passed out having not slept after practice or on the plane. Piper shook her awake and the arm around her waist tightened, effectively trapping her against the brunette.

"Al! We have to go warm up. The game is in a few hours." This worked and they both changed into their jerseys and shorts, grabbing their bags of cleats and socks and kneepads as they lazily walked down to the breakfast buffet.

If Piper and Alex managed to make a dent in a buffet alone, an entire team and two coaches was a pure slaughtering. They ate a little more conservatively since the game was in a few hours, but to them conservatively meant double the size of a breakfast of a normal person.

They piled into the rented bus and all of the girls were surprised when Kerr put one of the more inappropriate popular songs at the time. Apparently going to a championship earned them a fun bus ride. The girls all danced and sang as they got pumped up for the big game, and Piper couldn't help but think this was not even close to what she expected her first year in high school would be like. She thought she would be eating alone in the bathroom and spending her nights at home alone, but she couldn't think of a time she was happier than she was right now.

They arrived to the large field and circled up in the locker room. They began their stretches and listened as Kerr and Peck each gave a little speech about how far they'd come and how proud they were. Then Piper was surprised to see Alex stand up to address the team. Yeah, most team captains probably did this kind of stuff, but Alex always had a different way of going about things. She was like a silent motivator of the girls, usually communicating with smiles, head nods, or hand gestures. She spoke for less than 30 seconds but all the girls cheered after her quick speech about how they were going to kick ass and even if they didn't they were the best team.

The game was in Oregon at a neutral field and the fan base was mixed pretty equally. They jogged out onto the field and did a warmup lap. They huddled once more before meeting the rival team in the center of the field. Alex shook the other captains hand with a head nod and jogged back to join Piper, who was a nervous wreck at this point, in the middle of the field.

The game was long and challenging and Piper was just feeling completely off her game. She had missed out on multiple opportunities to score and botched a few passes meant for her teammates resulting in a loss of possession. They were yet to score and the other team had one goal with 10 minutes left in the game. When one of the players on the other team sprained an ankle Alex pulled Piper aside.

"Pipes, you can do this. I know you can." Alex put her hands on Piper's shoulders. "You can do it, babe."

The whistle blew and they ran back to the center of the field. One goal. It only takes one goal to tie the game. That's all they need. Piper took a deep breath and took control of the ball as soon as the second whistle blew. She saw nothing but the goal, rushing past defenders and midfielders as fast as possible. She found herself cornered and passed the ball to Alex who immediately passed it back, forcing her to take the shot. Just as she was closing in on the goal to make the shot she was suddenly on the ground with a shooting pain through her left foot. She blinked hard and opened her eyes again to see Alex hovering over her. She rotated her foot and it still hurt but it was nothing she couldn't handle for a few more minutes. Alex made sure she was okay before towering over the defender that had apparently tripped Piper. The blonde watched from the ground as Alex nearly lost her cool but managed to intimidate the girl enough to her liking without getting red carded for punching her in the mouth. Piper got up and walked around for a few seconds and slowly jogged back to the spot of the foul. She now had a free kick. She and Alex had practiced free kicks for hours, setting up behind trees and other obstacles to practice curving the ball between the cones and backpacks used to mark the goals. She took a deep breath and made eye contact with Alex, receiving a short nod and focusing on the goal again. She raised her arm and dropped it before kicking the ball and watched in slow motion as it curved right around the defenders and into the top right corner of the goal, the swoosh of the ball making contact with the net being the only sound she could hear before she was snatched up by the team and carried back to the center of the field with loud cheers from her teammates.

"I told you," Alex whispered into the girls hair before running back to center field. 4 more minutes. 4 more minutes to determine the outcome of the game. Piper could feel her heartbeat in her face in a mix of excitement and nervousness as she watched Alex steal the ball from the other team. Good start. She wiped a sweaty strand of hair out of her face with the back of her hand and sprinted toward the goal when she noticed how much space Alex had. It might have been pure speed and skill but she couldn't help but notice the other team looking a little intimidated by Alex. Piper couldn't feel any pain in her left ankle anymore, but whether it was uninjured or numb from the adrenaline she wasn't sure.

Alex passed the ball to another teammate who quickly passed it to Piper when she became trapped by the opposing team's players. The blonde made her way to the goal and passed the ball toward Alex but it was intercepted by the defender that had tripped the blonde. Alex came up behind the girl with a swift, sneaky tug to her jersey and stole the ball back, ignoring the shouts of complaint as the ref didn't catch the move she had pulled. Alex to herself and while the girl was complaining she was left completely open, successfully shooting the ball past the goalie into the net.

The entire team rushed over and celebrated for a few seconds before returning to the center of the field. They maintained possession of the ball for the rest of the 78 seconds that remained and quickly ran to the sidelines to celebrate. They did the cliché dumping-of-the-Gatorade-on-the-coach move and moved into their post game huddle to celebrate some more.

The excitement on the bus ride back was palpable, the sweaty girls constantly whooping and cheering and laughing at the drenched Coach Kerr. They rushed up to their rooms and changed into their favorite outfits that they would wear to the team dinner where they would walk to - of course - a buffet. With the season being over and having earned the glorious trophy for their school, the girls ate themselves into severe food comas. They shared a large table and chatted in smaller groups. Piper was ecstatic. She had been so worried that her performance during the first part of the game would have lost them the game that she was still struggling to comprehend the win. Alex seemed so _cool_ about everything but the look in her eyes gave her away. They were all smiling huge smiles as they stuffed their faces with mashed potatoes and steak and chicken and bread - all of the things that they avoided before the big game.

They left in small groups to head back to their rooms and "go to bed" but Piper remembered that everyone would be sneaking out tonight to celebrate. She and Alex took a stroll through Portland before the shops close and visited Powell's Books to browse through the huge bookstore. They sat in the aisle while Alex read Bret Easton Ellis' _Less Than Zero_ to the blonde - they were both in a postmodern book phase. They found a copy of _Stone Butch Blues_ by Leslie Fienberg which they bought of course - the book was out of print now and nearly impossible to find.

Of course they also had to stop at Voodoo Donuts where Piper bought something called the Gay Bar donut (it was topped with a line of rainbow fruit loops) and Alex got a bacon maple bar. They ate as they walked back even though they were still stuffed from dinner.

Alex bolted the door knowing that the coaches had master keys and they both fell onto the bed of the hotel room. Piper turned on the TV for some background noise and then straddled Alex. They were both stuffed but they were still so happy from the game that they couldn't keep their hands off each other. It was only 7 so some of the girls were at the pool before they pretended to go to bed and snuck back out for another swim. Piper and Alex were more than happy with the alone time. Alex's hands snaked down the back of Pipers skinny jeans and squeezed her ass cheeks while they kissed lazily. Piper's hands were tangled in Alex's hair and gently tugged with each squeeze of the brunettes hands. Piper ground her hips and they moaned into each other's mouths at the same time, welcoming the new feeling together. The blonde knew she needed to be the one to take these steps because Alex was just too respectful to try anything she thought might make her uncomfortable. She was simultaneous grateful and nervous about that. She put those thoughts behind her though, as Alex's hands pushed her down gently, hip bones and chests rubbing together slowly. The hands slid up Piper's shirt and slowly lifted it off her, getting caught in her hair for a second but still not ruining the moment. The blonde drew one of her hands up and snapped her bra strap hoping to get the point across that she wanted Alex to remove it. The brunette didn't make a move so Piper grabbed her hand and placed it on the clasp to make herself unmistakably clear. Slowly, _infuriatingly_ slowly, Alex undid the clasp skillfully with one hand.

The bra remained hanging from her shoulders until Alex pulled it from her body, putting her hands on Piper's shoulders and gently guiding her to sit up. A small moan escaped her lips as she stared directly at Piper's chest. Piper bit her lip and looked down at the brunette but she didn't seem to notice. All of her attention was focused on her breasts. There probably could have been an earthquake and she wouldn't have noticed.

Her hands moved to Piper's hips and _slowly_ slid up until her thumbs were just underneath her breasts. She visibly bit her cheeks and looked up at Piper for the first time in minutes. The blonde slowly nodded to give her permission.

Smooth thumbs gently traced up between her breasts and outward, slowly brushing against her hardened nipples. Both of them moaned, or one of them, Piper wasn't sure anymore. Her focus was on how good she felt right now. She would have been self conscious in any other situation but Alex was being so careful and gentle and she was clearly enjoying herself as much as Piper... Or more, if that was possible.

She could feel a knot building in her stomach, but it was different than the nervous feeling that she expected. She played with the hem of Alex's shirt as the brunette began to squeeze her breasts and they broke contact to remove the garment. Right when the shirt was covering Alex's face there was a knock at the door. Piper attempted to roll to the side and off of Alex but she lost her balance and fell onto the floor.

"What the fuck?!" Alex pulled the shirt back down over herself and down at Piper who was wrapped in a sheet on the floor. "Hold on!" She called to the door while handing the blonde her shirt and bra and sneaking over to look through the peephole. She mouthed "Kerr" and Piper's eyes widened as she struggled to dress herself. Alex tiptoed back over and pulled Piper's shirt over her head for her before opening the door, completely forgetting that Piper was still on the floor. Kerr looked right past Alex to the blonde who's hair was sticking out in places and her cheeks were flushed. Alex's eyes closed for a second as she realized her mistake in opening the door too soon and she went outside to talk to him, shutting the door behind her.

Piper tried to listen through the door but she couldn't hear anything. She was terrified that Kerr would call her parents and she wouldn't be allowed to play soccer or see Alex anymore. She couldn't imagine what it would feel like to be this happy for such a short time and return to her old life.

But after what felt like hours Alex returned and she didn't look worried or upset whatsoever.

"What happened?" Piper immediately asked with a loud whisper.

Alex smiled and shook her head.

"I just told him you fell asleep on the floor and he didn't even doubt me at all. They're going to bed and he was just asking me to keep an eye on everyone when we go to the pool." Piper sighed with relief.

"I liked where that was going, though." Alex mumbled with a smirk as Piper's cheeks turned light pink. She liked where it was going too.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

 **Here's a longer one since you guys left such sweet reviews. Especially** **Vausemaniac** **... I feel like your reviews picked up on some of the things that I only subconsciously noticed while I was writing... is that even possible? You're awesome.**

 **Seriously though, I was in a pretty shitty mood when I woke up and I read all your reviews and it actually made my entire day, so thank you all for that.**

 **Anyways, I feel I've drawn this out enough so... don't forget that this story is rated M.**

It was a cold night in March when it happened. _It._ For a lack of better words. It was cold outside. Cold enough for a pretty good amount of snowflakes to lazily drift down and form a thin blanket over the field. Their footprints in the snow were connected by the path from the soccer ball like a game of connect the dots. They still wore their shorts and tee shirts but their short breaths were visible in the cold night air. They threw the occasional snowball at each other and Piper carefully made a group of tiny snowmen no more than 4 inches tall due to the lack of enough snow for anything larger. She tilted her head back to catch the tiny snowflakes on her tongue and Alex simply watched her, so childlike and free and beautiful.

Their almost daily routine of playing soccer into the late hours of the night went uninterrupted after the season ended. In fact, they now spent more time together on the field because they weren't so exhausted from practice. Rain, shine, or snow they would play, always entering the house at the end of night soaked in rain and sweat, or caked in snow and mud.

They eventually gave into the cold and retreated to the warmth of Alex's house. As soon as they got inside Piper's body felt overly warm due to the immediate change of temperature. Diane was working as usual, so they removed the majority of their clothes and cuddled in their undergarments under Alex's warm comforter. Freezing fingertips were splayed across Piper's belly and suddenly everything felt so perfect. Like Alex was a part of her that was always missing. She had never been so content in her life. So when she rolled over to face her girlfriend she didn't hold back.

She straddled Alex and nibbled on her lower lip in the way that she knew drove her crazy. Alex sighed into Piper's mouth probably preparing to use that self control she had been exercising so much but Piper kissed her deeply, tilting her head nearly 90 degrees to the side to deepen the kiss even more.

"Pipes..." Alex whispered as they broke for air. It was a plea to stop before she lost her mind.

Their lips met again, hard and purposeful and Piper swore she could her Alex's heartbeat. Or was it her own? She still wasn't sure if Alex knew what she wanted.

For months on end they had been exploring each other's mouths and eventually parts of their bodies but never with anything more than delicate touches and soft kisses. Piper hadn't had a specific timeframe in mind for when she would be ready to take the next step but in this moment she was sure she was ready. She didn't want to talk about it, she just wanted it to happen. But she knew Alex, so she wasn't surprised when she was gently pulled back down to the mattress and Alex looked into her eyes.

"Is this..." Alex started, but trailed off immediately. It was clear by the look on her face that her mind was moving a million miles an hour as her eyes flicked between Piper's quickly. As if she had thousands of questions but didn't want to ask in the wrong way and sound pushy. Piper wasn't really sure what to say either. So she pulled Alex on top of her, hoping that it was clear enough what she wanted and she wouldn't have to say anything. But again, this was Alex. So when she tangled her fingers in that dark hair and pulled their lips together again, Alex's didn't respond. She pulled her face back again and looked into Piper's eyes.

"Pipes." Piper found herself getting frustrated. Sure, she appreciated Alex's patience and respect immensely. But she wanted this to just happen, not be talked about first. She sighed and looked up at Alex with a face that earned her a head tilt and a small smile.

"Are you sure?" This seemed to be Alex's version of a compromise, not forcing Piper to actually say the words that clearly were causing her extreme discomfort. The blonde's hand came to Alex's face to move away a strand of hair that was hanging down and ticking her face and nodded.

Now Piper was sure that it was both of their hearts racing with a mix between excitement and nervousness. Alex's knees surrounded Piper's small frame deliciously. She didn't feel trapped, she felt protected. She kissed the blonde's jaw, slowly trailing up to the space right below her ear. A barely audible whisper of _I love you_ was felt more than heard before full lips wrapped around her earlobe. Piper's entire body was pulsing with tingles in rhythm with her heartbeat as he hands drifted up and down Alex's strong frame. The brunette pulled back and kissed her collarbones while she reached around and skillfully removed Piper's bra, rubbing up and down her back once and releasing the tension in her muscles that she didn't realize was there. She pulled the material away and just like every time so far the sight made Alex moan, erasing any signs of self consciousness that the blonde had been harboring. Her stomach was still full of butterflies though, especially when Alex took one nipple into her mouth and sucked on it gently. Her back arched into the contact as the brunettes other hand came up to massage the neglected breast. The kisses continued down, slowly covering every inch of her exposed torso leaving twitching muscles in their wake. Piper's eyes were fastened on the girl as she gave open mouthed kisses to her hip bones. One more kiss to the area an inch over the elastic of her panties and Alex looked up and made eye contact with Piper. She was clearly gauging Piper's facial expression so the blonde just nodded again to quicken things up. She wasn't sure how much waiting she could take at this point.

The brunette maintained eye contact for a few more seconds before hooking a finger into the elastic below each hip bone and pulling down the fabric infuriatingly slowly. The blonde felt her cheeks flush immediately as she saw the moist spot on her panties as they slid down her legs. She had shaved because she was pretty sure that most people did that... but she honestly didn't know. She squeezed her eyes shut as her most private area was put on display for her girlfriend, the first person to ever see her in this way other than family members when she was a child.

"Fuck," She heard and felt Alex breathe out the word and opened her eyelids to see green eyes flicking up and down between the newly exposed skin and Piper's eyes as if trying to convince herself that this was really happening. Piper pressed her lips together and felt her eyes widen as she felt Alex's breath between her legs, awaiting contact. But it didn't come as she expected it to. Alex's hands wrapped around the back of her thighs just below her ass cheeks and slid down to the back of her knees and she gently pulled them apart, encouraging the blonde to open her legs and further expose herself. Her hands slid around to the inside of her knees and then all the way up until they were almost touching the place she wanted her most, stopping in the creases where her thighs met her center.

Piper looked at the ceiling and her nervousness got the best of her. _What do I do with my hands? Am I supposed to make noises? What if I take too long and this is a total disaster? Or what if it hurts?_ And all of a sudden Alex was placing light kisses on the top of her mound and all of those thoughts were gone. She inhaled a shaky breath and gripped the sheets in her fists as the kisses continued between her legs.

Alex's tongue poked out between her lips and she looked up into Piper's eyes as it gently parted her enough to lightly slide over her clit. Piper's whole body jolted as she gasped and threw her head back and gripped the sheets tighter as she heard a low moan escape Alex's throat. She could feel her own wetness when Alex let out a breath against her core and felt her cheeks flush again at the feeling of being so completely exposed. She felt Alex's eyes on her and she looked down to meet them.

"Are you sure?" She asked one more time, giving Piper the final chance to back out. _As if._ The blonde nodded slowly, still not wanting to say the words. She was thankful when Alex returned her focus to the task at hand, so to speak. Her hand crept up from Piper's thigh and she drew one finger down from above her sensitive clit to her wet opening. She inhaled a shaky breath and looked down to watch what her girlfriend was about to do. The tip of Alex's index finger stayed at her opening and with the slowest motion possible she began pressing it inside of Piper. She could feel the finger filling her a millimeter at a time, slow and careful but not hesitant. There was a small sting as her finger pressed forward but it was quickly replaced by what almost felt like relief as Alex continued to enter her until she reached her knuckle. The movement stopped as the brunette gave her a few moments to get used to the new feeling. Piper's insides felt like they were on fire and she bit down on her lip and met Alex's green eyes with hers once more.

"Okay?" Alex whispered with pure patience in her eyes.

"Yes," Piper hissed her response and noticed as a small smile grew on Alex's face. Suddenly the finger that she had grown accustomed to was slowly being removed and she immediately missed the contact. But just before it was completely removed, Alex pushed back inside again, filling her once more deliciously. This time the sting was replaced by a dull throb that pulsed through Piper's entire body. The pace was still slow as she once more removed the digit, this time returning it a little more quickly. The throb was still there but there was no pain whatsoever. Piper's eyes widened as Alex continued the motions with a little bit more force each time. She found her hips flexing to meet the contact and realized she had been moaning for god knows how long, shaky inhalations between each sound that escaped her lips. Suddenly all of her muscles clenched as Alex curled her finger. Whatever the fuck that feeling was she never wanted it to end. She looked down to try to see what was going on but threw her head back with a loud moan as it happened again and again and again.

Piper had given herself an orgasm before. She wasn't a prude or afraid of touching herself. But whatever Alex was doing down there was sending completely new feeling through her body. Piper wondered if she was supposed to tell Alex when she was going to cum. _Is she just going to know? What if I don't tell her and then she doesn't stop because she doesn't know that I already came?_ And then Alex returned her tongue to her clit and the feeling intensified by a factor of a thousand. Her muscles immediately clamped down on Alex's index finger as the pace quickened and her hands flew to tangle in dark locks of hair. Her thighs tried to clamp together on instinct but Alex gently pushed them back apart with her free hand as Piper's toes curled and she threw her head back against the pillow with a noise that she was sure she had never made before. Any thoughts of telling Alex she was cumming were gone because she was unable to speak at all. For a couple seconds she doubted that she had in fact given herself an orgasm before because compared to rubbing her clit for a few minutes when she was home alone this was an entirely different experience. Her orgasm came in waves that were released every time Alex decided to curl her finger. The ministrations on her clit had halted as she seemingly knew the girl had become too sensitive, but her finger continued slowly thrusting and curling until Piper's body went limp and she let out one more shaky breath.

Alex kissed her way back up Piper's body before placing a lingering kiss on Piper's lips. She could taste herself on her girlfriends full lips and it embarrassed her a little bit as she realized how much she had just completely given herself to Alex. Not that she regretted it by any means, but being so exposed and vulnerable was definitely intimidating. She expected a smirk to be on Alex's face but when she pulled away from the kiss there was a tender smile adorning her lips. Alex lay next to her and Piper hid her face in the crook of her neck, her face feeling hot as she briefly summarized what just happened in her head. Alex pressed a kiss to the top of the blonde head and murmured into her hair.

"Okay?" She sounded a little worried so Piper looked up into her green eyes before responding.

But she realized she was having trouble speaking.

"Wha... Alex..." She was still breathing heavily as she looked up at her girlfriend and she tried to convey her feelings without speaking. She had expected _something_ to go wrong... wasn't the first time supposed to be awkward and uncomfortable?

Alex released a breath of air from her nose in a mix between a sigh and a laugh as she looked down adoringly at the blonde, whispering a few _I love you_ s for good measure before wrapping her up in her strong arms.

Piper was a little bit sore when she woke up in the morning but it wasn't anything unbearable. It was actually kind of nice, like a constant reminder of what had happened the night before. The light coming through the gaps and missing sections of Alex's blinds was brighter than usual. She looked over at the brunette and failed to hold in a giggle. The bright light was shining on her face and her eyebrows were creased, her face in a slight pout as if she was angry at the sunlight. The giggle woke her up and Piper watched as the crease between her eyebrows deepened and she inhaled through her nose. Alex waking up was always fun for Piper to watch because she always seemed so mature and composed, but in the morning she was a perfect resemblance of a child waking up from a nap. Her hand blindly reached out for Piper from under the covers and the blonde dodged her grasp. When her hand made contact for the sheets her eyes immediately opened and she started to sit up before squinting at the blonde and letting out a huff of breath. Her eyes squinted even more as she looked out the window while grabbing her glasses, and once they were on her face her eyes widened again. Piper turned to look out the window to see what caused this and immediately became giddy. There was at least a foot and a half of snow outside covering the weeds and gravel with a blanket of pure white.

The holiday season had passed with little to no snow, and though lately there had been a few inches every now and then this was by far the most snow she had seen all year.

Piper pulled the cord to open the blinds and got on her knees, leaning her elbows on the window sill to look around at the winter wonderland that surrounded them. Everything from the shoddy fence to the dilapidated shed looked beautiful. The aged sidewalk looked completely untouched and everything was so smooth and _white_. Maybe the color was a reason she liked the snow so much, Piper thought to herself. She jumped as she felt a light pinch to her ass, hard enough to make her squeal but not hard enough to hurt. Alex was smirking at her when she turned around at the interruption.

"Well I guess I know what we're doing today," Alex mused as she got stood to get dressed for the day that would definitely consist of playing in the snow for hours. She definitely wasn't afraid of the cold, simply putting on a pair of skinny jeans with some warmer-than-usual socks. She wore a long sleeve tee shirt with a hoodie and went through her closet to find a sleek black snow jacket. Piper watched her for a few minutes before coming to a sad realization.

"Alex, I don't have any of my stuff! And you can't drive to my house in this weather." Her face was absolutely crestfallen but she couldn't help it.

Alex stopped dressing herself and stood there for a second as her eyes flicked around her wardrobe. She threw Piper a pair of her jeans and a pair of sweats to wear over them, pausing for a second to grab a tee shirt and her smallest hoodie. She nodded once as she looked over the ensemble and handed the clothing to Piper.

Piper stood in Alex's bedroom closely resembling Ralphie's little brother in _A Christmas Story_. After Alex had rolled up the jeans and sweats to keep them off the ground she had decided that Piper would still be too cold so she made her put on another pair of sweats. She was also now wearing a long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, hoodie, and snow jacket in that order. Alex topped it off by wrapping a scarf around her neck and chin and pulling one of Diane's hats over her head. She stood back and admired her work with a smirk that eventually turned into a fit of laughter as she made the comparison to the little boy in the movie.

Alex causally walked out into the living area and Piper waddled behind her mumbling complaints but knowing that Alex wouldn't let her take off any of the layers, at least until they got outside and found out what was necessary. Alex looked around for her mother and when she didn't see her she called out toward her room.

"Mom, check out who came to visit!" Alex called into a cupped hand a little louder than necessary in the small apartment. Her mother's door opened and she emerged wearing sweats and a hoodie. "It's the Michelin man!"

Diane burst out into laughter with her daughter as Piper stood in the living room already overheating with a slight pout on her face. Yeah, hearing Diane and Alex laugh together always made her heart swell, but she was _a little_ annoyed at getting treated like such a little kid. She did get the feeling that Alex would have done this no matter how old she was, though.

Alex's mother pulled her phone out and took a few pictures. In the first few Alex was standing next to Piper smiling, but as Diane snapped more pictures Alex looked over at Piper and immediately doubled over in laughter.

Eventually the girls made their way outside and struggled to walk through the deep snow. Piper immediately wanted to make a snowman and convinced Alex to help her out of her outer jacket to make moving a little bit easier. She was wearing a pair of Alex's boots with three pairs of socks to make them fit a little better.

At some point while Piper was rolling a snowball around to make the base of a snowman Alex wandered off. She looked around for a few seconds before immediately seeing the unmistakable black figure that was Alex. But what the girl was doing made Piper's heart swell. She was talking to her elderly neighbor who was struggling to shovel the pathway to his mailbox. She watched as Alex took the shovel from the man and began shoveling for him. She had only seen Alex speak to this man maybe three times in the months they had been together, and they spent a _lot_ of time at the Vause household. Piper watched her for a few minutes and wondered how the hell _she_ had managed to end up with _her_ before returning to building her snowman.

Alex returned fairly quickly and started helping Piper with her snowman, the blonde choosing not to say anything about the act of kindness until later. The brunette turned their snowman into a snowwoman, adding two snowballs on the body section, looking between Piper's chest and the snowwoman with a single nod as she held her hands up in front of the blonde's chest, then the snowwoman as if checking to see if they were the right size. Piper felt her face turn beet red.

Happy with their work, they went inside to use the bathroom and get something to eat having skipped breakfast out of pure impatience. They jumped up and down on the mat outside to attempt to rid themselves of the snow and ice that was stuck to their boots and pants before entering the warm house. Alex set their outer layers of clothing on the heater and went into the kitchen while Piper used the bathroom.

She emerged to find two huge mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream on the counter while Alex cooked an entire carton of eggs and a pan of hash browns. She dragged out a bar stool to sit and sip her hot chocolate while she watched her girlfriend make them food. She slurped her hot chocolate loudly causing Alex to turn around and immediately began laughing.

"What, do I have something on my face?" Piper asked doing her best job of pretending she didn't notice the whipped cream moustache she had given herself.

"Yeah," Alex said before walking over and repeatedly kissing the blonde, resulting in both of their faces now being covered in whipped cream. They were startled to hear a knock on the door, knowing that Diane was still home and judging by the weather only a crazy person would come over right now.

They were right, only a crazy person would come over.

"Yo open up its fuckin' freezing out here!" The voice bellowed through the door leaving no sliver of doubt who was outside. Before either of the girls could make it to the door Nicky barged in completely covered in snow from head to toe. She did a half assed job of shaking herself off and began disrobing herself as soon as she got inside.

"Dude, what the fuck. I walk my ass all the way over here and you can't even open the door for me?" She was pretending to be mad but it was just typical Nicky behavior and they all knew it.

"Wait, you seriously walked all the way over here? Are you insane?" Alex's eyes were wide because judging by the amount of snow that was in Nicky's hair she had indeed walked over here.

"I feel like you know the answer to both of those questions." Nicky responded quickly with a friendly nod in Piper's direction. "Yo Diane, your favorite daughter is here!"

Diane once again emerged with a huge smile on her face, clearly already knowing who was there. The two of them hugged one long hug and they all sat in the living room, Piper and Alex shoving their faces full of eggs and hash browns while Diane and Nicky caught up for a little while.

The house of females quickly agreed to watch movies all day while drinking hot chocolate (and stuffing their faces, in Piper and Alex's cases.) They watched _Ice Age, Snow Day,_ and _Snowpiercer_ while talking about anything and everything, Diane only getting grossed out at a few of the things Nicky and Alex blurted out while Piper silently blushed from her place under her girlfriends arm. Piper wanted this day to last forever. She felt like she truly belonged in that living room on that snowy day in March.

Eventually they all became a little restless and bundled back up, Nicky and Diane included, and started a snowball fight. Alex and Piper quickly formed a team as the brunette hurriedly made a fort to protect them from the bullets Nicky was throwing in their direction. Diane convinced Nicky to form a team with her as well and eventually it was a full-on battle. Actually, it was mostly Diane and Piper supplying snowballs while Alex and Nicky pelted each other repeatedly. They shouted cusswords at each other with each particularly well thrown snowball as Piper and Diane cheered them on, but eventually the two got bored and went to build another snowperson and left the two best friends to battle.

Diane laughed when she saw the boobs on the snowwoman and they decided to make her a girlfriend. They got a little carried away and their snowcouple turned into a snowfamily complete with a son and a daughter with a pet dog and all. After they exhausted themselves from creating such a work of art they returned to find Alex and Nicky laying in the snow next to each other, apparently exhausted as well.

Nobody would let Nicky walk home so they ended up making a giant blanket fort (Piper's suggestion) in the living room and watching horror movies (Nicky's idea) while eating freezer foods (Alex's proposition). Diane stayed out in the living room with them until the wee hours of the night before retiring and leaving the girls to fend for themselves.

Piper wasn't one to watch horror movies. They were banned in her household since she could remember, and she hadn't had a problem with that. But she didn't want to seem like a wimp in front of the two girls she looked up to so much, so she snuggled herself up to Alex and tried to hide her screams and jumps with coughs and sneezes. Alex saw right through her and jerked her body a couple times to scare the living shit out of the poor girl.

Eventually Nicky fell asleep, occasionally shouting out incoherent sentences that sent the sleepy couple into fits of giggles. Once Piper's abs hurt from laughing too much she snuggled back into the warmth Alex had to offer and took her chance to speak up.

"Hey I saw you help that guy out with his walkway. That was really nice, Al." She looked up to see Alex avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah, whatever," she murmured, playing it off like it wasn't a big deal.

"Seriously, that was really sweet." Piper continued to stare at Alex who seemed a little embarrassed. Sure, she was probably the most mature 17 year old Piper had ever met, but she was still a teenager and it was showing right now. She typically tried to shrug off praise, including, and sometimes especially when it was from her girlfriend. As much as Piper wanted to push the subject, she snuggled further into Alex's body and fell asleep with a smile plastered on her face at the unexpected turn of events that the last 48 hours had brought with them.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

 **thank you thank you thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. seriously all of you. i'm super fucking flattered with all the compliments. if i turn into a cocky asshole i blame you guys.**

 **glad you guys like the slow pacing, i'm trying to make it realistic. i'm also trying to keep the momentum going with this story but i set the bar pretty high for myself early on update-wise... i have a bunch of tests next week so they may be a little bit slower for a while. don't hate me!**

 **luveverythingtv:** **i'm going to slowly bring Piper's parents back into the story, i just wanted to kind of solidify everything between her and Alex first :) Glad you're checking for updates! i'll try to keep them coming quickly.**

 **Vausemaniac:** **t** **hank you so much again! i already read all your reviews like 5 times, is that weird? too bad, i'll probably end up reading them again. i definitely planned on having diane interrupt them but it just didn't seem right when i wrote it so i erased it and finished the scene haha. i'm trying to keep the balance between their maturity and immaturity going because that's all the fun in writing high school AUs :)**

 **WB79: i** **'m glad you didn't think it was weird! i honestly was pretty worried when i put up the last chapter because i was afraid people would find the age difference offensive or inappropriate. so thank you for clarifying that i'm not weird for thinking that was okay.**

Midterms hit Piper like a brick wall. It was second semester so the teachers weren't holding back anymore, and it seemed that her cockiness in Spanish class had come back to bite her in the ass. Luckily Alex was in her class and they could study together. They both took their stress out the same way. Late nights on the soccer field lasted longer with every day. It seemed that the more stressed out they got the longer and harder they would push themselves. They occasionally snapped at each other with the combination of stress and sore muscles, but neither of them took it too hard.

But when Piper got her period on top of everything else she fucking cracked. She had warned Alex that she could have a temper at times, but the brunette had never seen it in action. There wasn't even a specific reason she lost her shit, it was just pent up stress and she took it all out on Alex.

"Nice one, Pipes," Alex teased as the blonde stretched her leg out to stop the ball but completely missed, causing the ball to roll past her. She huffed and glared at Alex before walking deliberately slowly to retrieve the ball, knowing that it bugged her girlfriend when she did that. She kicked the ball back purposely out of the long reach of Alex's legs. The brunette stood in place.

"Okay, really? I'm not getting that." Alex raised an eyebrow and Piper crossed her arms. It was a standoff between the impossibly stubborn blonde and the unbelievably patient brunette. Of course Piper was the first to give in (she only made it like 30 seconds) as she huffed dramatically before walking over and grabbing the ball with her hands (something they rarely did) and shoving it at Alex. Alex's eyes widened as Piper acted severely out of character, even for being a stressed out teenager on her period. They usually took out their anger on other people.

"There you fucking go." She called as she threw her arms in the air and walked back to where she had been standing. She knew she was testing Alex's patience, but she reached the end of hers hours ago and couldn't seem to care.

She was a ticking time bomb and Alex was letting the time run out, standing and looking at her knowingly as the metaphorical clock ticked.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Piper asked bringing up a hand to run it through her sweaty hair.

"Well that depends, are you going to calm down?" _Calm down,_ the two words to never utter within a mile of an angry Piper. She felt her heart rate picking up along with her temper.

"Calm down?! Not everyone is fucking calm all the time like you are Alex! Sometimes people get fucking stressed out!"

Alex just calmly raised her eyebrows and put one hand on her hip, seeming to know that Piper just needed to yell it out. She gently kicked the ball back but her hand remained on her hip.

"Fuck!" She shouted, mostly angry at herself for _being_ so angry and partially being angry because Alex _wasn't_ angry and just standing there taking it like a fucking man instead of stooping to her level. She kicked the ball as hard as she could toward the goal but it flew over the top and rolled to a stop way down the field.

"Pipes." Still calm, the brunette began walking forward as the blonde collapsed dramatically into the grass and began uprooting angry handfuls, making a pile of the now dead grass in front of her crossed legs. Alex sat silently next to her and began copying the motion a little more elegantly than her girlfriend, helping to increase the pile of grass. It made Piper feel like a total fucking asshole for taking her anger out on Alex when she would help her do something as pointless as slowly destroy the field they both loved so much. This realization mixed with her lovely hormones and pent up stress caused her to immediately burst into tears. Not quiet, soft tears. Complete breathless sobs.

"Aww... Pipes..." Alex stuck out her lower lip a little bit and scooted closer to Piper, wrapping a muscular arm around her thin frame and pulling into a tight hug. Piper collapsed into Alex's shoulder and continued to sob into her shirt, immediately covering it with tears and makeup, loud sniffles doing a poor job of keeping her snot under control. Alex pressed repeated long kisses to Piper's head as the blonde tried to control her breathing to avoid embarrassing herself further. When the tears eventually stopped Alex was the first to speak up.

"Hey, are you okay?" She tilted Piper's head so the blonde had to look at her, but the question mixed with the eye contact caused her to burst into tears again. It was just an overflow of emotions; sadness and guilt because she felt awful for taking out her anger on Alex, gratefulness because even though she just treated her like shit she was still acting so fucking sweet, stress from school... The list went on but she also knew she could blame her hormones for the entire thing.

Alex stood up and pulled the crying blonde up with her, leading her to walk to the car, the forgotten soccer ball remaining alone on the field. Luckily nobody had stayed after school because it was still light out, and they usually kept a safe distance between each other until it was dark outside.

The sound of Piper's dramatic and frequent sniffles filled the car as a silent Alex drove the car. She stopped at a grocery store and got out without speaking to go inside, leaving Piper in the car alone.

The blonde got a little more frustrated by the second as she waited in the car but eventually Alex came up to the window and kneeled down with a quiet knock on the glass. Piper looked out the window to her right to see Alex with... _A nervous look on her face? That's new._ And then she saw that her girlfriend was holding flowers and a bar of chocolate in her hand as a peace offering. The blonde felt the lump return to her throat and she rolled down the window.

"I love you?" Alex said with a nervous smile. Piper sniffled one last time and pursed her lips, silently asking Alex to kiss her. So she did kiss her, over and over and over until Piper was laughing too hard to kiss back. Piper cradled her flowers the entire way back and those hormones she had hated so much earlier were now making her incredibly happy and a little bit... horny?

"So... You're kind of scary when you're mad." Alex spoke slowly and Piper found herself feeling severely embarrassed.

"You can't say I didn't warn you... I mean it had to happen eventually." Piper reasoned.

"It might have been cute if it wasn't directed at me." Alex murmured with a smirk, looking at Piper out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

Alex sat on Piper's bed with her back against the wall, the blonde leaning against her shins as they studied for their Spanish midterm. Piper leaned back hard enough to spread Alex's legs and groaned, laying back with her head on her girlfriends stomach.

"Can we take a break?" She begged. If it weren't for the brunette she wouldn't have gotten any studying done at all.

"Pipes, we literally sat down..." She checked the time on her phone. "4 minutes ago. I would hate to see you ruin your chances of being valedictorian in your first year."

Piper huffed knowing that the brunette was right. Her mother may have been overlooking her friendship with Alex and love of soccer but she certainly wouldn't put up with poor grades in freshman year.

"Come on, conjugate those verbs kid," Alex pushed her forward so she was sitting up again. "And then we can go find something more fun to do."

Despite being on her period and ignoring the fact that they had still only had sex once - well, Alex had sex with _her_... _Is that how it works? I mean she did everything. That sounds right._ \- despite all of that, the blonde couldn't help but let her mind wander at what _more fun_ could mean. Piper had thought a lot about returning the favor to Alex but she was waiting for the right time - which didn't seem to be presenting itself. She knew Alex was a patient person. She had already waited this long without once pressuring Piper into _anything._ But that being said, after that night she couldn't imagine going so many months without sex. Alex had definitely had sex with girls before Piper. She heard what some of the girls on the soccer team had talked about. And after whatever Alex did _down there_ Piper was finding herself pretty nervous to return the favor. She could only imagine how embarrassing it would be for Alex to pretend she was enjoying herself, which she would surely do if Piper was awful at sex.

"Pipes." Alex was waving a hand in her face and she realized she had been staring at the wall completely motionless. She fell back onto the bed with a sigh and grabbed her notebook.

"Alright fine. I'll say the sentence in English and you have to say it back in Spanish, how about that?" Alex was trying _so hard_ to make this fun that Piper couldn't help but agree.

Alex patiently coached Piper through the translations, giving her time to think and giving her hints when she was stuck. The blonde beamed at Alex's compliments, smacked her arm when she teased her, and blushed when she let her eyes wander shamelessly down her body.

Piper found herself immensely struggling to control herself. All she wanted to do was sit as humanly close to her as possible. She wanted Alex's muscular arms wrapped around her every second of every day and she would find any excuse to touch her.

"Piper! Dinner!" Carol called up from downstairs in a high pitched voice that travelled through the large house with ease. The invitation was extended to Alex as well, but she did a frustratingly good job at pretending the brunette didn't exist. It drove Piper crazy, but Alex told her it didn't matter.

They shuffled downstairs, Alex still wearing her jeans and tee shirt from school while Piper had changed into sweats and a baggy shirt.

"Piper, is that really what you're going to wear for dinner?" Carol's fake polite tone was already putting her in a bad mood.

"Yeah, mom. We're eating pasta not going out to a five star restaurant. And I'm on my period." Carol's eyes widened as Piper loaded both her plate and Alex's with _at least_ half of the pasta, completely drenching hers in sauce and cheese. Alex was pressing her lips together and trying not to laugh at how easily the blonde could push her mother's buttons.

Dinner was relatively quiet, but eventually Carol spoke up again.

"Piper, honey, the Ritter family is hosting brunch on Sunday and they would _love_ you to come." Piper looked down at her food, immediately knowing she would end up going to the brunch after her mother's nonstop requests that were sure to follow this sentence. She sighed and looked at Alex before returning her gaze to her mother.

"Can Alex come?" Alex immediately kicked her leg under the table, clearly not interested in taking part in one of the most WASPy rituals known to man. Carol's lips pursed and Bill spoke up for the first time since they got downstairs.

"If you would like to bring Alex to brunch I'm sure that would be okay, honey. I'll let Richard know tomorrow morning." Piper plastered on her most angelic grin as she felt Alex smack her leg under the table.

* * *

Brunch was no joke to the Ritter family. Or any of the people the Chapman family associated with. An entire seafood display, pastries, salads, champagne and mimosas, bloody marys, every cheese imaginable, and a chocolate fountain were taking up an entire wall of the large dining room at the country club. The round tables had elegant white table cloths set with the appropriate china and cutlery, delicately folded napkins and expensive center pieces. They had just entered the room, taking their time and letting Piper's parents get a head start. Danny was already sitting with a group of the other perfect young men. All of them played for the football teams of their schools - offensive positions only - surely already bragging about themselves between mouthfuls of food. Cal had managed to get out of brunch all together.

"Pipes, this is fucking insane," Alex whispered under her breath as the blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her over to an empty table. The blonde didn't even sit down, just shook out a delicately folded napkin and placed in on her seat, considering it a silent _dibs_ on her spot.

They walked down the line of the buffet, reaching over to grab food with their hands ignoring the silver utensils begging to be used. They loaded their plates with food, Alex sticking to the more common foods while Piper went after just about everything from caviar to chocolate covered strawberries even though she knew it would irritate her mother that she was mixing her meal with dessert. Their plates were carrying at least triple what was considered acceptable at such an event.

A couple boys Piper's age sat at the table with them, blatantly checking out Alex which she didn't even seem to notice. Something about her just drew people in, including Piper.

"Is there something on my face? Like, shit. This must be what the animals at the zoo feel like." Piper giggled because usually Alex was pretty cocky and obviously knew the effect she had on people but right now she looked severely uncomfortable. They looked like complete opposites. Piper looked like the kind of girl that truly belonged in this setting. Her light pink sundress and long white socks whispered _innocence_ while Alex's black pants and leather jacket screamed _badass_.

"Come to the bathroom with me," Piper telling more than asking Alex, but she knew the brunette wouldn't want to be left alone anyways. Piper grabbed all of their belongings, earning one raised eyebrow from Alex on the way to the bathroom. The brunch was at the country club so the bathrooms were public, but barely. One door took them into an actual 'powder room', and then another took them to one of four bathrooms. She shoved Alex against the wall and kissed her hungrily, sloppily, as her hands tangled into her hair. Alex just stood there for a few seconds, clearly not expecting this but eventually kissing back.

"Pipes," she murmured against the blonde's insistent pink lips, but Piper didn't let her finish, instead taking her lower lip between her teeth and lightly tugging her hair. She had always wanted to make out with someone at one of these brunches to feel a little less like such a _good girl_. The thought brought a rush of heat to her abdomen and she immediately felt her cheeks flush as she finally pulled back. Alex was looking at her with wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and of course her signature smirk on her face.

"You okay kiddo?" Alex tilted her head amusedly as Piper's face turned an even brighter pink and she straightened out her clothes, embarrassed at how obviously turned on she was right now. She cleared her throat and nodded, grabbing Alex's hand and leading them back to the car.

* * *

They fell into a heap on Piper's bed, hands frantically skating over each other's bodies. Alex's hands flew up Piper's thighs and over her torso sliding the dress over her head with ease, leaving her wearing only her white undergarments. The brunette sucked on her lower lip and shook her head with an intake of breath through her nose as she looked down at Piper. The blonde reached her hands out and motioned for Alex to lay on top of her which she quickly did. Piper felt butterflies and quietly wondered if Alex would ever _stop_ giving her butterflies. She was becoming pretty accustomed to them fluttering around in her stomach, not that it was a bad thing.

She had trouble doing anything but just laying there like a corpse as Alex lovingly attacked her neck with kisses and nibbles. She _knew_ what was coming and she _knew_ it was going to be amazing and she was having trouble waiting, finding herself writhing underneath Alex's built frame. She felt the brunettes lips turn into a smirk as she reached around and undid the clasp on Piper's bra and removing the offending item of clothing. There was that moan again, always erasing any little bits of self consciousness over her small chest since apparently Alex greatly appreciated the view. And the taste... She felt teeth lightly tugging on one of her nipples while the other was gently squeezed by Alex's hand. A whimper escaped her lips and she traced her hand up and down Alex's still clothed back. She hadn't even taken her jacket off yet, but before Piper could protest the brunettes kisses and nibbles were moving lower and lower, leaving light pink marks on her exposed abdomen. Part of her wanted to touch the marks just to see what it would feel like but her hands were clenching the sheets in anticipation and she couldn't let go.

What happened next was completely unexpected to Piper, though she didn't have very many expectations in the first place. Alex was certainly spontaneous.

Alex's open mouth closed over the center of her panties and sucked the material loudly into her mouth. Piper's eyes rolled back in her head that was now thrown back against the pillow but quickly picked back up again. She decided that not only was it one of the best things she had ever looked at but she should be taking mental notes of what to do down there. Her legs were tingling and it took her a few moments to realize that it was because her hips were raised so high off the bed as she arched into Alex's touch. The brunette licked a firm line up to her panty line before taking the elastic between her teeth and grinning up at Piper, who just watched with her jaw slack. It seemed that since Alex had pulled all of the romantic and sweet moves when she took her virginity she was no longer holding back.

She pulled the white panties down with her teeth and gripped Piper's ankles, running her hands up to her thighs while she pushed her legs apart. The blonde eagerly complied, spreading her legs as far apart as they would go causing the brunette to look up at the ceiling and take a deep breath before smiling and shaking her head at Piper. She felt her cheeks flush as Alex took one of her outer lips between her teeth and gently sucked and pulled at it. Piper's eyes widened as the brunette teased her and she felt her center literally dripping with moisture. Alex's tongue poked through her lips and she licked wide circles around Piper's clit. She must have been purposely avoiding it because Piper was being pretty clear about what she wanted right now.

Piper kicked her stocking clad feet in frustration as Alex continued to avoid the two places Piper needed her most and the brunette tilted her head up with a smirk. Piper whimpered, hoping to get her point across.

"What do you want babe?" Piper felt her cheeks flush because she really didn't want to say what she wanted right now. Piper bit her thumbnail and Alex smiled gently, seeming to realize that Piper wasn't _quite_ there yet and was still nervous during sex. So she did what any loving girlfriend would do and sucked her clit into her mouth without warning, immediately flicking it with her tongue as Piper gasped repeatedly. That same index finger found it's place inside of Piper again, almost as slowly as the first time but there was no pain at all. Well actually there _was_ a little pain but it was coming from how hard Piper was biting on her lower lip to hold in the loud moans that were building in the back of her throat.

Alex's finger became more persistent at the perfect time, thrusting in and out quickly but not too hard as Piper lost control of herself and began moaning quietly. Alex's free hand wrapped around and grabbed Piper's ass cheek as she sped up the motions with her tongue and her index finger curled and seemingly out of nowhere (well not quite _nowhere,_ but faster than expected) Piper felt her walls tighten around that long index finger over and over. She let out a loud cry of pleasure and repeated Alex's name over and over as all of her muscles clenched. She looked down and watched Alex slowly remove her finger only to gently replace it with her tongue, lapping up the mess she made. She muttered a few curse words under her breath at the feeling and sight she had just endured before Alex kissed her way back up Piper's body to her lips.

Piper sighed into Alex's mouth and they lay there in silence for a few seconds before they heard the slam of a door down the hallway. Danny's door. Right down the hallway. A few feet away. Piper quickly replayed the events through her head and her heart dropped to her feet, realizing that he had indeed been there the _entire_ time and that she had shouted out Alex's name multiple times.

"Fuck."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**

 **I'm going to start doing these at the end... so if you want to read my blabbering it'll be at the end of the chapter :)**

Piper sat on the floor next to her bed wrapped in nothing but her white bed sheet. Her hands covered her face as she tried to figure out how she didn't realize Danny was already here when they got home. He must have left while they were in the bathroom at the Country Club. She stood up and looked out the window to see that his car was indeed parked on the street right outside the driveway and they had walked right past it, too tangled in each other to pay it any attention.

The Chapman family didn't _talk_ to each other. They spoke to each other about current events or dinner parties or where to go on their next vacation, but they didn't _talk_. Ever. Sometimes Piper and Cal would have an in depth conversation, but Danny was always pretty wrapped up in his own world that didn't involve anyone else in the family.

"Pipes it's gonna be okay." Alex put her hand on the small of Piper's back. "It'll be fine. Seriously. Even if shit hits the fan, we'll be okay."

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself too. She started pacing around her room, sheet dragging behind her and becoming tangled around her feet. She looked back at Alex and suddenly felt extremely confident out of nowhere. She decided she was just going to go in there and talk to him. Like family is supposed to do. She knew if Diane had heard them having sex Alex would have gone out and just talked to her. So that's what she did. She threw on her clothing and checked in the mirror to make sure she didn't look _too_ disheveled.

She gently knocked on Danny's door and heard a muffled _come in_ from the other side of the white door. She opened the door slowly and walked a few steps into the room. Danny was sitting on his bed with his phone and glanced up for a split second before returning his gaze to the device.

"Hey." He greeted her tonelessly.

"Hey." Piper breathed out, feeling her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "So. Yeah."

"Yeah." He looked up from his phone again. Surprisingly enough he didn't look grossed out or mad or awkward, just like nothing had happened. She just stood there, not really knowing what to say at this point, so he sighed and threw his phone down on the bed and scooted over, silently inviting her to sit next to him. She felt strangely guilty for doing something that didn't even effect him.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life, Pipe. But _maybe_ doing... that... with someone so much older than you... in our parents house... is a dumb idea." Piper blinked a couple times, trying to figure out what to say. He didn't even _mention_ the fact that it was with another female. She just nodded, looking down at his dark blue comforter.

"I mean, she's a lot older than you. You're not even 15." _Is he seriously having_ the talk _with me right now? I want to crawl into a hole._

"Yeah." It was all she could really say at this point. She had overestimated her ability to talk about this with a family member. The heat in her cheeks was unstoppable at this point.

"I'm just saying." Danny sounded a little defensive, as if he had known what Piper was thinking and was now feeling the awkwardness she was radiating.

"So are you guys like..." He trailed off, not really knowing how to ask the question. Piper looked up at him and nodded, biting her lower lip.

"Oh. That's cool. I mean, I'm not going to tell mom and dad. That would just make everyone's lives harder." Piper lay her head against the wall with a loud thump and a sigh as immense relief flooded though her. He sounded like this was almost a boring conversation to be having right now, like it wasn't the huge deal she had been making it out to be.

"Look, it's cool Pipe. I mean that was really weird. Let's not do that again." He was clearly talking about having to hear them earlier and Piper felt her face turn red. "But I have your back. So yeah."

That seemed like a clear ending to their conversation so Piper stood up and bit her fingernail.

"Hey uhh... Thanks." She wasn't exactly sure what she was thanking him for, mostly a mix of not making that _super_ awkward and not telling their parents.

"Yeah." He grabbed his phone again and went back to whatever he was doing while Piper quietly shut the door behind her.

When she walked back into her room Alex was laying on her back on the floor with her legs upright against the wall. She quickly turned around to face Piper who stood wide eyed against the door. She was trying to figure out how to deal with how fucking uncomfortable that conversation was and digest the fact that Danny seemed to actually have her back on this.

"So?" Alex asked impatiently as she stared down the blonde for a hint of emotion.

"It's all good." Piper said quietly as she took a seat on the edge of her bed.

"It's all good? That's it?" She clearly wanted more but there wasn't really much to tell.

"Yeah. It's fine. I mean he didn't even really seem bothered." Piper paused before continuing. "Can we go somewhere... not here? That was a little too awkward."

Alex let out a short laugh and grabbed her car keys, leading the way out of the Chapman house.

"So what, you were just elbow deep inside blondie and he walked in?" Nicky called from the swingset while Alex and Piper drop kicked the soccer ball back in forth over it.

Piper groaned and Alex let out a loud laugh at their vulgar friend.

"Yeah, something like that," Alex answered with a particularly high kick of the ball, acting completely nonchalant about the entire situation.

Nicky was smoking a cigarette, lazily dangling from the old swing as she watched the ball fly in high arcs over her head. The Sunday evening was coming to a quick close after the _eventful_ day. The sky seemed darker, air colder, and the next day of school was looming over their heads.

"So how is life at the Nichols household?" Alex asked as she trapped the ball with her foot, sending gravel up into the air.

"Oh, you know." Nicky took a drag off her cigarette before continuing, her voice straining while she spoke through the smoke. "Butterflies and rainbows. Marka is in the Hamptons with one of her boy toys. Oh, speaking of which. Spring break. Two weeks. Hamptons. You guys down?"

"Yes!" Piper agreed quickly. She always had fun hanging around Nicky. Sure, sometimes the girl was a little bit... _much_ , but that was part of the excitement. Piper looked at Alex with her eyebrows raised, waiting for her response.

"Well I can't leave _you two_ alone in the Hamptons so..." Piper squealed and clapped her hands together, already imagining how much fun it could be. Nicky and Alex just laughed at her childlike response but she didn't really care. Apparently Alex thought she was cute anyways.

Even though Danny said he wasn't going to say anything Piper was terrified to face her parents. She quietly opened the door and looked back at Alex to make sure she saw her get inside before driving away. She stood in the doorway and listened to the hissing of the turbo with each shift until it faded away before walking inside. She was halfway up the stairs before she got stopped.

"Piper," Her mother called from the living room. She shut her eyes and waited for a second but it was no use.

"Piper, come in here please." Her heart dropped but she obliged, silently cursing Danny in her head.

"Yes?" She replied in her most angelic voice.

"We need to talk about earlier." Piper could almost hear her heart rate picking up but she did her best to remain calm. _Danny, you fucking asshole._

"What happened earlier?" Still feigning innocence, she sat down on the couch across from her mother.

"You know what happened. I don't think that Alex girl is a good influence on you." Piper just raised her eyebrows, knowing her voice would come out shaky if she responded.

"You left brunch without even a thank you to the Ritter family," Piper closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thanking a god she didn't entirely believe in that she didn't say anything to tip her mother off.

"Yeah, sorry mom. We had homework to do. I gotta go to bed." It was an excuse she knew would work, obviously her mother wouldn't scold her for doing school work. She shuffled up the stairs before her mother could say anything else and barricaded herself in her bedroom.

She tossed and turned in her bed for about an hour before texting Alex.

 **\- are you up?**

 **(delivered 10:32pm)**

She sat her phone on her stomach and looked around her room. It was so _boring_ in there. It had looked the same ever since she was little, the pink paint and sheets simply getting replaced by pure white as she aged. Piper waited for about 6 minutes before sitting up in her bed and turning on her lamp. Suddenly feeling inspired (or bored and restless) she got up and turned on the main light to her bedroom. She pulled her desk to the center of the room and covered her lips with her three middle fingers on her right hand as she surveyed the room around her. She didn't necessarily have an issue with the current layout of her bedroom but she wanted _change._

She began pulling her bed away from the wall which proved a little harder than expected. She grabbed it by the frame and pulled back with all of her weight, but her fingers slipped and she fell on her backside with a cliché 'oof'noise. She huffed in frustration and gave up on moving her bed, deciding to pull her dresser away from the wall. Piper honestly had no idea what she was doing.

She heard gentle footsteps and a light tapping on her door. When the blonde opened the door she was surprised. She expected one of her parents to be at the door telling her to keep it down and stop messing with her furniture, but looked up to see Danny standing in front of her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He asked with a laugh as they both looked around her room.

"I don't really know." She answered honestly with a smile, just now realizing how ridiculous this looked.

"Well... Do you want a hand?" Her smile turned into a huge grin. It seemed like the Chapman family usually just _existed_ in the same space together, but apparently the incident earlier made Danny want to spend some time with her. Or the noise was bugging him, but either way.

"Yeah. That would be cool. I mean, I have no idea what I'm doing. I just got bored." They both laughed quietly and Piper stepped aside to let her older brother inside.

"I think you should put the bed across from the window," He decided after surveying the room for a few moments. "And then you can put your desk in the corner and the dresser next to it. You'd have a lot more space in here."

They executed his plan and Piper's room looked way bigger than before. The TV was now placed on the opposite side of the room, leaving the main area of the room completely open.

"Oh shit, I have an idea. Hold on." Danny quickly walked out of the room and Piper sat on her bed smiling as she took in her new abode. He came back a few minutes later with the Rockband drum set and a plastic guitar slung over his back.

"I don't really use this stuff anymore and now you have all this space..." He set up the instruments and made one more trip to grab the microphone stand and a few Rockband disks for the Xbox. "I would say we should play right now but I don't have a death wish."

He had a good point. Their parents would scold them for playing loud video games on a weeknight, even if it was serving as some good brother sister bonding time. Piper thanked Danny and they said their goodnights, Piper gently closing the door behind her brother as he tiptoed back to his bedroom.

She lay on her bed smiling before she remembered that she had texted Alex earlier. She found her phone on the windowsill and saw that she had 4 new texts.

 **\- Yeah I'm awake**

 **(received 10:41pm)**

 **\- What's up?**

 **(received 10:44pm)**

 **\- Well I'm feeling severely ignored**

 **(received 10:51pm)**

 **\- I still love you though**

 **(received 10:51pm)**

Piper couldn't help but grin at her phone like an idiot, but it was already 11:46 so she decided not to respond and wake her girlfriend up. She was actually pretty exhausted after moving furniture for almost an hour so she wrapped herself up in her comforter and dozed off into a deep sleep.

The next morning at breakfast Piper brought up her possible spring break plans.

"My friend Nicky is having some people up to her place in the Hamptons for spring break," Piper started. Her mother interrupted before she could say anything else.

"Oh Piper, you're finally making some good friends? That's great." Piper fought the urge to roll her eyes at how shallow her mother was. Then she thought about Nicky and fought the urge to laugh, because her mother would be mortified at most of the sentences that found their way out of the girl's mouth.

"So I can go?" She asked hopefully.

"I think that would be a good way to spend your break, dear. Go ahead." Piper hid her mischievous grin behind her glass of orange juice and almost spat it out as she made brief eye contact with Danny. He knew that Nicky was the friend she was talking about and he probably knew Alex would be there, but he didn't say anything.

"Pipe you want a ride to school?" He asked as he sat his dishes in the sink. Piper's eyebrows raised involuntarily. He had never offered her a ride before, presumably not wanting to be seen with his younger sister at school.

"Umm yeah, that would be cool." She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but in the last 24 hours he had been acting like such a good brother that it was a little hard to wrap her head around.

It was quiet for the first few minutes of the ride in Danny's black BMW M3 (paid for with his trust fund, of course.)

"So this place in the Hamptons. You going with Nichols?" His voice sounded cautious, like he was afraid of awaking the angry Piper he had seen so many times growing up.

"Yeah. You know her?" Piper was surprised. Even though her brother was in the same grade as Alex and Nicky she had never even seen them acknowledge one another.

"She was in my English class last year. Is Alex going?" _Here it comes, the guilt trip about this being a bad idea._

"Yeah." She kept her answer short and sweet, hoping the conversation wouldn't get too awkward.

"That's good. She'll look out for you," He responded thoughtfully, keeping his gaze on the road.

Piper's face broke out in a grin. He had clearly picked up on Alex's protective nature at some point.

"Yeah, she will. She's... great." Piper bit her lip to hold back a smile as she thought about her girlfriend. It was just instinct to grin whenever Alex was brought up in conversation.

Danny turned on the radio and they didn't speak for the rest of the car ride, but it was a comfortable silence. Two days ago if someone had told Piper she would be hanging out with her brother like this she would have laughed in their face.

They walked into school together before breaking apart to find their own groups of friends, Piper denying the offer for a ride home knowing she would hang out with Alex after school.

Piper and Alex sat across from each other in the grass with their legs open, lazily rolling the ball back and forth between each other.

"So Danny has been acting really nice. Like... an actual brother." She caught the ball and rolled it back to her girlfriend, whose eyebrows were raised to show how intrigued she was.

"Even after what happened yesterday?"

"Weirdly enough it seems like it was _because_ of yesterday."

Alex got up and sat next to Piper, clearly more interested in this conversation than their lazy game of catch.

"That's great, Pipes." She put her arm around Piper's shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"It's kind of weird, you know? Like all these years we never hung out or talked or anything. Oh, he gave me his Rockband game for my Xbox!" Piper had completely forgotten about the new game until now.

"Well what the fuck are we doing out here then?" Alex asked, standing up and offering a hand to Piper while brushing the grass off her backside with the other.

They ran up the stairs into Piper's room immediately upon arriving at the Chapman household. They left Piper's door cracked open just so Danny would know they weren't up to anything too racy, but closed enough to give them privacy.

"What the fuck happened in here?" Alex's eyes widened as she took in the new arrangement of the bedroom.

"Oh yeah, that's why I didn't text you back last night. I got bored last night... Danny helped me."

"There's so much room for activities!" Alex quoted from _Step Brothers_ , one of their favorite comedies to watch together, earning herself a loud laugh from the blonde. "But seriously, it looks awesome in here."

Piper smiled and looked around, still getting used to the new layout of her bedroom.

"Dibs on guitar!" Piper shouted as Alex reached for the plastic instrument.

"What? You saw me going for it!" The brunette argued with a poor attempt at Piper's puppy dog eyes. Piper's response was just a grin as she slipped the guitar strap around her torso. They had changed into boyshorts and oversized tee shirts, knowing they probably wouldn't be leaving the bedroom any time soon.

"Fine, you have to listen to me sing then. God knows I don't have the coordination to play the drums, fake or not." Piper giggled at the thought of Alex struggling to play the drums as the brunette scrolled through the song list on the TV.

Alex chose a song while Piper was looking down at her guitar so she had no idea what to expect. They stood next to each other and a smirk grew on Alex's face as the song started. She looked directly at Piper as she sang.

 _You know I never  
I never seen you look so good  
You never act the way you should  
But I like it  
And I know you like it too  
The way that I want you  
I gotta have you  
Oh yes, I do_

It was totally corny but the way Alex sang directly at her without even looking at the screen made the blonde break out into a fit of giggles. She could pull off the badass soccer player vibe 80% of the time, but then as soon as the two of them were alone she would turn into the cheesiest romantic in the world. Piper was also surprised to hear how good Alex's voice sounded; the brunette never sang unless there was loud music to drown her voice out.

They spent the rest of the night playing Rockband, eventually even being joined by Danny. He took the role of drummer because both girls refused to even give it a shot. Piper had to excuse herself to the bathroom, feeling a little nervous about leaving Alex and Danny together in her room, but nature calls. When she came back everything seemed fine, and they played 3 more songs before Danny headed off to his own room and left the two lovebirds to themselves.

"I totally got the big-brother-speech while you were in the bathroom." Alex said from her horizontal place on the bed next to Piper.

"Wait, seriously? What did he say?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Don't break your heart, take good care of you, don't expose you to sunlight, don't feed you after midnight..." Alex smirked and Piper smacked her arm.

"I am not a gremlin, you ass!"

"Yes you are, but you're my gremlin," the brunette covered Piper's face with kisses, ignoring the girls fake attempts to push her off the bed.

 **A/N:**

 **it took me a long time to decide where to take this chapter because the ending of the last chapter was completely unplanned. i guess i felt like writing some brother sister bonding. mostly just some character development and whatnot... or maybe i just miss my brother. anyways, this will probably be the most family related chapter of the story, I hope it wasn't too boring. next chapter will probably be their trip to the hamptons, so it should be interesting!**

 **and of course thank you so much for the reviews. they keep me motivated :)**


	14. Chapter 14

Nicky drove along the highway with Piper up front and Alex in the rear passenger seat. The puppy dog eyes had earned the blonde the front seat so she could control the heat _and_ the radio. She had her hand out the window, palm down, making a wavy pattern as the warm air blew over her arm. A sharp poke to her side caused her to whip around and look at Alex who was staring expressionless out the window. She furrowed her eyebrows but didn't say anything, returning her focus to outside the car.

"Oh fuck yeah," Nicky pulled the car over to the right lane (she was definitely a left lane driver) and exited the highway, eyes trained on the gas station ahead of them. "I'm gonna eat the shit out of some gas station nachos."

They filed inside after Nicky's reminder that Marka had given her a generous pile of cash after missing the holidays that year. Nicky went straight for the nachos, piling on a generous amount of cheese and jalapenos and setting them on the counter and waiting for the other two girls. Piper came up front first, her pile containing an oversized rice crispy bar, a refrigerated burrito, an Hostess apple pie, an entire box of oatmeal cream pipes, a huge bottle of Dr. Pepper, and pizza flavored Pringles. Alex followed not too long after toting an armful as well. Beef Jerky, hot Cheetos, Twinkies, two bottles of orange juice, two packages of Big League Chew, and a handful of candy bars scattered across the counter.

Nicky shook her head and rolled her eyes but didn't comment on the amount of food they wanted.

"Shotgun!" Piper shouted the second she stepped on the concrete outside of the gas station.

"Fuck, really Pipes?" Alex groaned but Piper was too focused on winning and being excited to return to her throne to grace her with a response.

They spoke with their mouths full as they made fun of passengers in passing cars or teased each other. Piper felt Alex poking her a few more times but she did her best to pretend she didn't notice, despite the slight annoyance it was causing her. Of course they played the Slugbug Game the whole way, Piper and Nicky throwing most of the punches while Alex remained relatively silent in the back seat and let the two of them bond. She _did_ continue to poke and prod at Piper's side though.

They sang along to stereotypical road trip songs and threw their garbage on the floor of the car, not a care in the world. Piper felt two fingers pinch the side of her waist and she whipped her head around, no longer pretending not to notice Alex's pestering. Her eyes were narrowed as she threw her best death glare at the brunette whose eyes immediately widened and she threw her arms up in a surrender.

"Okay! Sorry!" Her voice was an octave higher than normal as she probably realized that she was playing with fire.

She offered Piper an entire package of her gum as a peace offering and the blonde gladly accepted it. They had a bubble blowing contest and Alex won only to receive Nicky's hand flying into the back seat to pop the bubble with the back of her hand, covering Alex's face in the pink sticky substance. They were almost there at this point, so when Alex removed the gum from her face she put out her hand for Piper's gum as well. The blonde spit her gum into the open palm over her shoulder before she saw the gum fly out the window and hit the stop sign they were stopped at with a loud _smack_ and they spent the rest of the ride laughing.

* * *

Nicky hopped out of the car first and walked toward the door, not waiting as the other two girls stretched out their sore muscles.

"I've been training my body to sit all day for _years_ , that's what you guys get for being all in shape and shit!" She called back from the porch, not noticing when Alex squeezed Piper's ass when she stretched down to touch her toes. Alex must have been here before because she followed Nicky toward the house, but Piper stood in place. She was used to nice summer houses or fancy chalets but this was definitely something else. The house was made of dark stone and must have either had 3 floors or very high ceilings. The driveway was made of light slabs of rock and the gardens were perfectly groomed.

They made their way inside and Piper almost cringed when Nicky didn't take off her dirty shoes and walked across the pure white carpets, but she followed suit. She gave them a brief tour of the beautiful house before they went to the backyard. The large yard was every summer houses dream. The pool was simply iconic with soft white lights and a perfect light blue colored water straight out of a movie. The matching hot tub was just the cherry on top. The perfectly groomed lawn met the white sand in a perfect line, as if someone actually _vacuumed_ the sand off the grass.

Before Piper could take in the rest of the view she was startled when something fell on her head and blocked her face. She removed the item to see that it was Alex's shirt, and looked back to see both of the other girls running past her toward the pool in their undergarments. She quickly removed most of her own clothes and followed suit, doing her best cannon ball into the pool and drenching Alex and Nicky.

Piper did her best to not make Nicky feel like a third wheel. It was kind enough for her to invite the two of them to come with even though her somewhat-kind-of-maybe girlfriend Lorna couldn't make it until later in the week.

Their splashing war and breath-holding contests lasted until way after dark, and eventually they made their way out of the pool. Alex and Piper both hoisted themselves up gracefully while Nicky did some version of a barrel roll to get herself over the stone lip of the pool. Their fingers were shriveled and their hair was frizzy from the chlorine, bras and panties fitting awkwardly due to being so drenched.

When they got inside Nicky just walked right in, grass and dirt stuck to her wet feet leaving footprints all over the house. There were enough bathrooms for them to take showers at the same time, so they all parted ways even though Piper was secretly hoping Alex would join her in the shower. Piper's shower thoughts were about how exciting it was to go on her first road trip without any parents or coaches. Nicky's carefree attitude only made her a little bit nervous - she liked to know what to expect and when to expect it - but with Alex here she knew she was in good hands.

They met back downstairs on the _huge_ sectional couch and watched movies all night. Nicky fell asleep first, rolled face first into one of the corners in the sofa burying her face and entire front side. Once she was passed out Alex and Piper cuddled a little bit closer and shared a few kisses, but they were both too tired to take it any further. Piper must have fallen asleep first, because the last thing she remembered was a scene from the Hunger Games playing on the flatscreen while Alex played with her hair.

* * *

Piper woke up to hear Nicky's distinguishable laugh. She squeezed her eyes shut even more and tightened her grip around... Oh. She was completely wrapped around Alex.

"The koala lives!" Nicky called out through her laughter as Alex chuckled and patted Piper's head. The blonde finally opened her eyes and rubbed them with her fists, trying to adjust to the daylight that was flooding through the open window.

"Mmfood?" Was the first sound that escaped Piper's lips, earning another fit of laughter from the two other girls.

"Let's go _Flock of Seagulls_ , there's no food here," Nicky called from the other side of the room.

" _Flock of Seagulls_?" Piper crinkled her nose as she squinted in Nicky's direction.

Alex grabbed her phone and took a picture of the squinting blonde, turning the phone so she could see her _unique_ hairstyle.

"It's an 80's band." Alex informed her with a smirk.

The blonde blushed and brushed through her hair with her fingers to somewhat tame the beast, unsuccessfully reaching for Alex's phone to delete the picture.

The girls all got ready together, Nicky not really doing anything but making fun of the two of them from her seat on the toilet. Piper bumped into Alex's hip with her own right when she was finishing her eyeliner and let out a loud laugh when Alex turned to glare at her and she had a thick black line from her eyelid going straight up to her eyebrow.

* * *

They spent the next two days mostly on the beach. Piper was _already_ sporting a perfect tan which she thanked her genetics for making possible. Alex's skin was still flawlessly pale thanks to the amount of sunscreen she had to wear to avoid burning.

Lorna was arriving that night so Nicky was even more animated than usual - she did a poor job hiding her excitement. They were all barefoot in their bikinis, Piper and Alex kicking the soccer ball through the sand while the wild haired girl made a hole in the sand. She was already waist deep in her hole when Piper and Alex tired themselves out and retreated to the sand covered towels laid out next to the hole.

"You get to China yet?" Alex asked as she dusted the sand off herself ineffectively.

Nicky's head popped up followed by a middle finger before she got back to digging. The blonde sat in the sand and buried her feet, packing the sand around them and then wriggling her toes free repeatedly. Eventually she got bored and began busying herself making what she thought was going to be a pretty impressive sand castle when Nicky's phone rang. It was sitting on the towel next to Alex and she grabbed it before Nicky could make her way out of the hole.

"Oh look who it is Nick!" She tossed the phone to her friend and Nicky answered excitedly as she grabbed all of her belongings and made her way back to the house to greet Lorna, phone trapped between her ear and her shoulder.

Before Piper could even register what was going on Alex was sitting behind her with her long legs on either side of the blonde. Piper smiled as she completely forgot about her sand castle, leaning back and pressing her back against Alex's front. The brunettes hands rubbed up and down her toned stomach.

"I can't believe you're already this tan and it's only been two days. That's such bullshit."

"But if you were like me I wouldn't have an excuse to rub sun block all over you..." The blonde smiled, a little proud of her budding ability to be flirtatious.

"Mmm," Alex hummed her agreement as Piper leaned her head back, pressing her face against the brunette's neck as she inhaled. Alex smelled like sunscreen and vanilla and a little bit of sweat and Piper decided that if she made the scent into a perfume she could become a millionaire. She placed a few kisses on the skin and heard Alex sigh behind her, tilting her head to the side to give her better access.

"Hey," Alex whispered against Piper's hair. "Let's get this sand off us."

She led Piper to the outdoor shower on the side of the house. Nicky and Lorna were nowhere to be seen, giving the girls a good idea that they might be absent for a while. Alex turned on the water while Piper was standing right in the line of fire, causing the girl to squeal at jump back at the cold temperature. Alex just smirked at her, shamelessly looking her up and down.

They stood under the now warm water and rid each other's bodies of sand to their best abilities, but they were having trouble concentrating on the task at hand. Alex's fingertips traced up around Piper's back to the tie on her bikini around her neck and she fiddled with it lazily with raised eyebrows, silently asking permission to remove it. Piper bit her lower lip with a smile and nodded shyly. She was _still_ getting used to the effect that the brunette had on her. Alex pulled the string behind her neck and released the ties before repeating the motion with the tie around her back, letting the top fall to the tile shower floor with a distinctive _splat_. Alex licked her lips and used her hands to remove the sand that had found its way inside of Piper's bikini, letting her hands linger for a few moments once they were clean.

Piper repeated the motion for Alex, but once she was clean she didn't remove her hands at all. The blonde had never understood the whole 'boob obsession' that boys always had until she met Alex. She squeezed them in her hands with a small smile and looked up at Alex who was staring directly into her eyes. She brushed over the brunettes nipples and earned a soft moan and watched Alex's white teeth sink into her lower lip.

The blonde knelt down onto the sandy tile and began fidgeting with Alex's bikini bottom but the brunette pulled her back up by her upper arm.

"Not in an outdoor shower, babe." She said with a small smile. Piper honestly didn't care where they were but Alex had a point, her first time should probably be in a more comfortable place.

They rushed through the rest of their shower and Alex wrapped Piper securely in a huge white towel that seemed to be specifically purchased for the outdoor shower area. They quietly walked in through the back door and stood still for a moment, listening for any hint of where Nicky might be. They didn't hear anything but Alex knew her room was on the first floor so they tiptoed up the white carpeted stairs. Alex had been here before but it must have been a long time ago because she opened a few doors before she found a bedroom. Piper could feel her heartbeat in her throat in a mix of excitement and nervousness.

"Are you sure?" The brunette asked as they stood face to face in the large guest bedroom. Piper thought for a second, even though she knew she was _definitely_ sure, and nodded, but Alex easily picked up on the hesitation.

"Hey," Her voice was stern but comforting, and she raised her eyebrows at the blonde. "You don't have to do anything."

"No I want to I just... don't really... know... what I'm doing." She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Alex obviously knew she had never done this before but she still worried that it would somehow be a complete disaster.

Alex brought her hands up to Piper's cheeks and looked her directly in the eyes. It was kind of intimidating to be under her gaze so closely, but it was comforting at the same time.

"I don't care if you know what you're doing. But if you don't want to do anything that's completely fine. Seriously. It's totally okay."

"I want to." Piper said quickly and sternly. She was becoming a little frustrated with herself for being so nervous and ruining the fluidity of the moment. Alex seemed like she was pretty uncomfortable too, though, and she cursed herself for hesitating the first time the brunette asked her.

"I really, _really_ want to." She gave Alex her best _I'm serious_ look and the brunette smiled and nodded.

She pushed Alex backwards until her ass hit the side of the ridiculously tall bed. They had already shed their towels so when Piper straddled Alex on the mattress and their chests bumped together they both let out quiet moans. She captured the brunettes lips with her own in a heated kiss, quickly poking her tongue out between her lips to attempt to take the lead. She could feel Alex smirk a little bit and lost some of her confidence as the brunette nibbled on her lower lip, but gained it back by tilting her head and deepening the kiss even more, earning another beautiful moan from her girlfriend.

She placed a few kisses across the brunette's defined jaw line before moving down to her neck to suck on it gently. Alex's hands were gently tracing up and down her back, over her shoulders, into her hair as she moved down further to nibble on her defined collarbones. She sucked a little harder and pulled back with a loud smack and grinned when she saw the mark she left on her girlfriends collarbone. She had never gotten or given a hickey before surprisingly enough, but apparently Alex knew exactly how hard to suck without actually leaving a mark for more than a few minutes. She sucked on the same spot once more and then kissed the red mark, feeling a short tremor through the brunette as she tried not to laugh.

"You're fucking adorable. God, I love you Pipes." Alex whispered as she raked her fingers from Piper's hairline down her scalp to the back of her neck. Piper felt herself blush a little bit at the compliment but continued kissing her way down until she reached those beautiful fucking breasts she was becoming so obsessed with.

She sucked the underside of one breast into her mouth while she gently traced her fingers around the other. They were just so fucking _soft_ that she couldn't tear herself away just yet. She licked her way up to Alex's nipple and sucked it into her mouth, nibbling a little bit the way she liked when Alex did it to her. This earned her a louder moan but it sounded muffled. Piper looked up to see the back of Alex's right hand covering her mouth and smiled, thinking to herself that maybe she wouldn't be that bad at this.

Eventually she made her way down further, kissing Alex's stomach muscles and gently running her fingers down the toned skin, feeling the muscles clench a few times as she ticked her girlfriend. She reached Alex's bikini bottom and looked up at her as the brunette always did to her, remembering how it made her more comfortable both times so far. Alex nodded and ran her fingers through Piper's blonde hair, pulling it back out of her face and holding it in a loose ponytail on with her left hand.

She untied the black bikini bottom from one side and began pulling it away, eyes carefully watching as she revealed more and more of Alex's skin. The brunette lifted her hips up a little bit to help Piper pull the material away and she couldn't help the tiny moan that she let out when she saw the last new part of Alex's body.

Alex's legs were spread a little bit, but Piper pulled her thighs apart more to see how wet she was. She felt her cheeks flush yet again, mostly because of the sight in front of her and a little bit because she was nervous. She didn't want to just lay there on her stomach and stare so she decided to just go for it, leaning forward slowly as she poked her tongue out between her lips and hesitantly licked Alex's outer lips, not yet daring to press any further. She saw the sheets wrinkle in her peripheral vision as Alex grabbed a handful with her right hand and took a deep breath. Piper paused for a moment at the taste of Alex on her tongue in surprise. She didn't really know what she was expecting but she tasted _good._ Eventually she repeated the motion with a more firm touch, surprised at how easily her tongue slid between Alex's lips and up over her clit. Alex's grip on the sheet tightened and she gasped audibly.

 _Well that must mean I'm doing this right._

She repeated the motion again and again, firmer and slower each time until she heard Alex curse under her breath at a particularly slow lick over her clit. She tried to remember what Alex had done to her those two previous times but she was having trouble concentrating as she continued working the brunette's clit with shorter quicker laps of her tongue now.

Alex's hips bucking made her realize what she probably wanted and she slowly drew her hand up, pressing one finger tip to Alex's center. The brunette flexed her hips again and let out a moan, causing Piper's tongue to bump against her clit again. She slowly pushed forward and felt her heart rate speed up as her finger became extremely slick and warm inside of her girlfriend. She paused for a couple of seconds before picking up speed and began licking Alex's clit again, less rhythmically as she tried to digest everything that was happening.

"More," Alex whispered as her muscles clenched around Piper's finger. The blonde immediately complied by adding another finger and sucking Alex's clit between her lips simultaneously, reveling in the loud moan that followed. The grip on her hair tightened a little bit and then loosened again as Piper continued thrusting her fingers, speeding up at a somewhat steady pace. The blonde was having a little trouble concentrating and keeping her mouth and hands working together, but began flicking her tongue over Alex's clit which apparently felt really good, because the grip on her ponytail tightened again for a few seconds this time before Alex completely let go and grabbed the sheets with both hands now, apparently unable to control her grip. Piper sped up her fingers and her mouth and felt Alex clench around her fingers as she arched her back, moaning loudly as her abs twitched. She immediately felt relieved, having worried that this would take like 2 hours because she would be so bad. Piper kept moving her tongue and fingers, slowing down a little bit but not really knowing when she was supposed to stop. Both times with Alex she had seemed to know the perfect moment to stop.

But Alex's hand on the back of her neck pulling her back up made her stop wondering. The brunette pulled her into a deep kiss followed by a few short pecks on her lips.

Piper laid down next to Alex and looked at her expectantly, wondering how she did but being too nervous to ask. She knew it must have been kinda good unless Alex just faked an orgasm... _Oh my god, she wouldn't do that right? No..._

"That was perfect Pipes. You're perfect." She kissed her on the lips again and Piper smiled, hearing the genuine tone in Alex's voice. It was the that Piper finally relaxed enough to realize how turned on she was. Apparently Alex knew too.

Before she could even register what was happening Alex was on top of her, pushing her up by her waist so her head was supported by the pillows at the head of the bed. Alex immediately scooted down and used two fingers to pull Piper's bikini to the side and glide her tongue over her opening almost hard enough to enter her but not quite. Piper's hips bucked immediately and she let out a loud moan. She backed her head up and pulled down the blonde's last piece of clothing before nestling back between her legs. She brought two fingers up and gently prodded at Piper's entrance, looking up for the blonde's reaction. She nodded and Alex slowly pressed harder and inched her fingers inside of the blonde slowly. Piper felt a shiver run up her entire spine. If one of Alex's fingers had felt good she didn't even know how to describe what two felt like. She leaned up on her elbows and looked down as Alex pressed knuckle deep and paused for a few moments before building up a steady pace. Her mouth attached itself to Piper's tan thigh and sucked on the skin there as she whimpered and quaked. Alex began curling her fingers every other thrust and Piper realized she was already hurling toward the point of no return. This was the fastest she had ever gotten to this point even when touching herself. She felt herself clenching around Alex's fingers so hard it was _almost_ painful but not quite.

"Al..." She gasped out an unnecessary warning to her girlfriend. And suddenly the increasingly familiar feeling of her orgasm flooded through her body as her muscles fluttered and toes curled. But then Alex sucked her clit into her mouth, making contact with it for the first time. It might have been a second orgasm, it might have been the first one continuing, but whatever the fuck it was had Piper screaming out Alex's name and clenching her hair has hard as she could. The brunette brought one hand up and gently placed it over her mouth to muffle the sound and avoid the awkward confrontation with Nicky later and Piper breathed heavily through her nose through the rest of her orgasm(s).

They collapsed into a sweaty mess on the bed. Piper was still somewhat self conscious of her body so she covered herself with a sheet but Alex lay out confident as ever, completely nude. They lay in comfortable silence until Piper's stomach growled. Luckily their bags were already on the second floor so Alex grabbed some clothes for them to eat and lounge around in before they made their way back downstairs.

 **A/N:**

 **i havent been writing any super dramatic scenes so i hope it's not boring you guys, but honestly at this age there isn't really much realistic stuff to fight about yet. at least there wasn't for me... there will be angst in future chapters but it may be a little while since there's still a lot of firsts for them to experience together and i'm having way too much fun.**

 **i planned on writing one long ass chapter about their spring break but i split it in half because it will most likely be a couple days before i can finish (the good ol' 3 tests in 3 days kinda week)**

 **special thanks to** **vausemaniac** **(again) for the huge confidence boosters after every chapter! the way you pick apart the small details and share your favorite lines makes me super happy.**

 **oh also since i forgot to respond to the uncomfortable guest and i can't pm you: i understand if the age difference makes you uncomfortable. i chose their ages because that was my experience in high school (there i said it) and i think it's an interesting dynamic to their relationship. i also write better about stuff that i can relate to, so there's that too. anyways, i didn't just pick their ages without any thought and i felt like i should say something because i doubt you're the only person that felt uncomfortable.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:**

 **Okay, i know. i'm a terrible person. im sorry im sorry im sorry. you guys are so sweet for asking if i'm okay. and i am, so thanks! i had a lot of stuff going on and every time i sat down to write i would end up deleting it. i ended up skipping the rest of their spring break trip because i don't know how long it's healthy to stare at a blank word document and nothing was coming to me. i was going to write the rest of this tonight but it's already almost 10pm and i still have some stuff to get done tonight so i figured i would at least give you guys this much. expect the second half soon!**

Alex refused to go to Junior Prom. _If we could go together I would think about it, but what's the point if I can't bring you?_ Piper couldn't help but grin when she heard this, burying the nagging feeling that she was holding Alex back from having fun with her classmates.

The brunette insisted on them just hanging out at her house, but Piper wasn't happy with that plan, so she took matters into her own hands. She spent all week planning what she hoped would be the perfect date. It proved to be harder than expected because she didn't really have a lot of dating experience. She watched romantic comedies before bed to try to come up with ideas but it turned out that most of her favorite movies weren't that realistic. She watched them anyways.

It was Thursday night and so far all she knew for sure was that she wanted to take Alex out to a really nice restaurant that she had gone to with her parents a few times for special occasions. It was expensive, but she had a rather impressive savings account after years of birthday and Christmas gifts that usually consisted of large envelopes of money or checks. It wasn't very personal, but she was grateful for it at times like this.

She sat on her bed and fiddled with her cell phone nervously before dialing Diane's number. They had talked on the phone a few times and she knew Diane would have to help if she was going to convince Alex to leave the house without knowing what was going on.

"Hey, what's up kid?" Piper smiled at both the familiar nickname and the way Diane talked to her like they were friends.

"Hi Diane. I actually need your help. Are you busy?" She hadn't even thought about the fact that Diane might be working until just now.

"I've got 20 minutes to kill before I clock in. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah! Yes. I was just umm..." She paused for a second and wondered if it was weird to ask Alex's mom for help with such a romantic gesture. This was Diane though, and she always knew how to help. "I want to take Alex on a date tomorrow."

"Are you asking my permission?" Diane chuckled and Piper felt the smile on her face grow.

"No! I just kind of need your help. I mean I've never really... taken anyone out on a date before. And I want it to be a surprise. Since she won't go to the dance." The blonde tried to keep her rambling under control to her best abilities. She heard another chuckle from Alex's mother.

"Alright, kid. So you need my help getting her to go without knowing what's going on?"

"Yeah exactly. Like, she has to dress nice. But she kinda has to drive too because obviously I can't."

"I'll tell you what, if you can get yourself here I'll make sure she doesn't expect anything. Does that work? I can't promise she'll be dressed up until she sees you though." This was probably as good as it could get, Piper realized.

"That would be perfect. Thanks, I should let you get to work."

"Any time, kid. I'll see you tomorrow."

Piper felt a thousand times better after talking to Diane, as usual. She would have to ask Danny to drive her over, which shouldn't be a problem. Worst case scenario she could walk over, but in heels and a dress that didn't sound very appealing. Speaking of her dress, she needed to decide what to wear. Thankfully due to her upbringing she had an entire walk-in of different outfits so she had a lot to choose from. She knew Alex liked her wearing white, so she gravitated toward the few white dresses she had.

One was floor length and very formal, which she decided against quickly. The other two fell to just above her knees, one being strapless and the other a halter. Piper wished she had a friend she could invite over to help her decide, but she had practically been spending every waking moment with Alex and hadn't spent time with many of the girls from the team since the season ended. She was okay with this.

She went with the strapless dress and some simple black heels. Alex was pretty easy to impress, surprisingly enough. Piper lay in bed too giddy to sleep, extremely excited to finally be the one taking Alex out. She couldn't wait to see the surprised look on her girlfriends face. She played games on her phone and scrolled through her social media apps for at least an hour before finally dozing off.

* * *

She skipped over to Alex's house as soon as she was ready for school. The brunette answered the door with bed head and sweats still on. She somehow only needed somewhere around 15 minutes to get ready in the morning but she always looked perfect. It wasn't really fair, but it's not like it was her fault. Piper fiddled around in the kitchen while she waited for Alex to get ready, putting on a pot of coffee and finding a banana to eat. She peeled it upside down because she read online that monkeys do it that way and wanted to see the difference.

The blonde was sitting on the counter swinging her legs and eating her banana when Alex returned from her bathroom looking stunning as usual. Her toothbrush was sticking out of her mouth but she spoke anyways.

"Why did you peel it upside down?" She asked with a tilted head, toothpaste slowly dripping out the side of her mouth before she wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"This is how monkeys do it." Piper responded like it was totally obvious.

"So you're a monkey?" Alex laughed and spit in the kitchen sink, dipping her head to slurp some water from the faucet. Piper extended her leg and poked Alex's butt with her foot causing the brunette to laugh and spit the water back into the sink.

They heated up some frozen waffles in the oven and took the 6 minutes while they were cooking to share some not-so-chaste kisses, Alex lifting Piper onto the counter and walking forward until their hips were pressed together. When the timer went off (after what felt more like seconds than minutes) Alex pulled out the food while Piper stayed in her perch on the counter.

"What are we doing with these?" Alex asked the blonde. They rarely ate their waffles plain or with just syrup. At Piper's house they usually had fresh berries and whipped cream, and at Alex's they usually had sausage or bacon with them. Piper hopped up and looked through the cupboard and pulled out peanut butter and jelly. Alex raised her eyebrows and gave a nod to show her approval and they got to work making peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwiches.

Alex was done eating before they got in the car but Piper was talking too much and still had her entire breakfast left when they sat down in the car.

"-and then it turns out that I wasn't even looking at the right chapter so I had to restart _again_ -"

"Pipes!" Alex interrupted the blonde through her laughter.

"What?" Piper's brow furrowed, wondering why the brunette found her homework struggles so funny. She looked down to see a big glob of peanut butter and jam on her thigh. She huffed and quickly licked around the circumference of her meal to prevent any further spills. Piper opened the glovebox and began sifting through the CD cases to find a napkin but she was unsuccessful.

"Wait, hold on just leave it until we get there so you don't make it worse. And be thankful you didn't get that on my seat." Alex smirked and hurried the rest of the way to school. Once they got there and Piper had finished the rest of her food without making more of a mess, Alex quickly undid her seatbelt and shoved her face into Piper's lap and loudly sucked the mess off her leg, sending an instant patch of warmth over the majority of her thigh. Piper squealed and frantically looked around but there was nobody else in the parking lot so she focused back down on Alex who was now nibbling on her leg. She was extremely tempted to grab Alex's hair and redirect her a little higher up but was able to resist and pushed her head away.

"Class... Gotta... Geometry." Piper managed to sputter as Alex fixed her glasses and bit her lip.

* * *

The day dragged on for what felt like weeks. Piper distracted herself in class by making sure every detail of the night was worked out. Once she got out of school she would get a ride with Alex as usual. But she would have the brunette drop her off at home so she could "have dinner with her parents" when she would do her hair and makeup. Then Danny would hopefully drive her over to Alex's where she would surprise her and wait while she got ready (quickly as always). Perfect. She couldn't really keep the destination a secret once they left because Alex had to drive, but it would still be somewhat of a surprise.

As they were running laps in P.E. Piper decided to bring up that she needed to be dropped off after school "for dinner."

"Hey are you taking me home today?"

"Umm... I take you home every day. So yeah." Alex raised an eyebrow and looked over at Piper as they jogged together.

"Okay. Can you... I have to have dinner with my parents. Like right after school." _Shit, I'm a really bad liar._

"Your parents are eating dinner before 4pm?" Alex was raising both eyebrows, clearly not buying what Piper was selling.

"Yeah. I mean no, but I have to get my homework done first. Mom told me to." _Please just believe me._

"Oookay..." Alex was frowning a little bit but didn't say anything else.

"I'll call you after though, can I spend the night?"

"Why do you keep asking me questions like that? Obviously you can spend the night, Pipes." Alex was smiling a little bit now.

"Oh. Yeah. I don't know." Piper sped up her pace a little bit just wanting school to be over so she could get ready and stop lying to Alex.

* * *

Piper played Alex's favorite radio station on the way home and sang along loudly, pointing to Alex at certain parts of the song. She joined in when Piper motioned to her, so the blonde assumed she wasn't too skeptical.

Piper ran up the stairs as soon as she was inside and directly into the shower. She took a little extra time shaving and washed her hair twice just to be safe. It only took about an hour for her to get ready. All of that practice growing up had finally paid off; she didn't want to make Alex wait too long and give up on her.

She texted Danny - even though he was just in the other room - to tell him she was ready. He knocked on her door and she hid behind it as she opened it just in case her parents were near.

"You look good, Pipe. She'll be excited." He gave her a single nod and she couldn't help but blush, feeling weird that her brother was seeing her so dressed up for a date.

She successfully made it down the stairs without being seen and slid into the passenger seat of Danny's car. The car ride was silent except the tapping of Piper's heeled foot on the floor of the car. The car ride felt like an eternity and all too short simultaneously. She didn't even know why she was nervous, she had been out with Alex plenty of times.

Piper quietly knocked on the door, for some reason feeling like she was disturbing the peacefulness of the apartment. She heard Diane yell for Alex to get the door and heard the brunette complaining which made her giggle and feel a little better. The door violently swung open and Alex appeared wearing a pair of yoga shorts and a sports bra. _Oh my god, she answers the door like this? Does she want to give the mail man a heart attack?_ Piper's jaw went slack when she saw her girlfriend's toned torso and long legs and she made little effort to hide her obvious appreciation. She looked back up at Alex's face and smiled, remembering she was dressed for a fancy dinner and her girlfriend had no idea what was going on. Her green eyes were wide open and her eyebrows were raised, mouth hanging slightly open as she blinked a few times.

"What... Huh?" This was probably the least composed she had ever seen Alex since they met.

"I uhh... I'm taking you on a date." Piper shrugged, feeling tiny as she waited for Alex's response.

"You're taking me on a date?" The brunette repeated to verify what the blonde had just told her.

"Yes. You have to come to dinner with me."

"I have to?"

"Yes, you have to! I made reservations and I figured since you won't go to the dance that we should-"

"Pipes, of course I'll come with you." Alex laughed and pulled her inside. "You look amazing, kid."

She sat awkwardly on the couch as Alex got herself ready in the bedroom, refusing to let the blonde see her until she was done. Diane had vanished to her bedroom when Alex opened the door, and Piper was kind of thankful for that. Not that Diane ever made her uncomfortable, but being dressed like this sitting on the couch just felt a little weird.

Alex was out pretty quickly, wearing a black dress that fell to just above her knees, similar to the length of Piper's dress. It had short sleeves and showed a very generous amount of her cleavage and all Piper could wonder was where this dress had been all her life. Her black hair was loosely curled and gave off the _I don't give a fuck_ look but was flawless at the same time. Piper stood up and they stared at each other for a good 30 seconds before finally heading outside toward the car.

"So where am I taking us?" Alex asked as she started the car and fiddled with the heat while letting it warm up for a few minutes.


	16. Chapter 16

They sat in the restaurant sipping on their water as they perused the menus. Piper already practically had it memorized since it was such a fancy restaurant and their menu was very short, but she read the list anyways.

"I honestly have no idea what most of this is." Alex looked up at Piper with a furrowed brow and then back to the menu, studying the options that were mostly foreign to her.

The table was thick wood and there was a simple lamp that lit up their table. The room was mostly dark and had a very gentle buzz from the conversations throughout the restaurant. Their feet occasionally brushed up against one another's but they pretended not to notice.

"Do you want me to order for you? I kind of know what it all is. Enough to know if you'll like it." Piper didn't want Alex to feel too out of place, but she clearly was at this point.

Alex's response was to close her menu and give a single nod. She was clearly feeling a little out of place but Piper knew once they got their food she would have a good time. It was about time someone took her out to the fancy dinner she deserved.

Piper ordered an assortment of different dishes that she remembered eating when her parents took her here. Some of them may have been out of Alex's comfort zone but she wanted the whole package. She felt proud that she was ordering for Alex and not the other way around, as usual.

She ordered the asparagus and tartare for appetizers. She knew Alex would eat the asparagus and the tartare was one of her favorites. It was practically raw steak with capers and mustard seeds and a bunch of other stuff she didn't really know how to describe. Alex was hesitant, but after a few bites she couldn't put her fork down. It was about half the size of Piper's small fist and was pretty pricey, but it was totally worth it. Especially when she listened to the noises Alex made as she ate.

They were awaiting their main dishes when the shit hit the fan. They were having a conversation about what they would do over the summer and Alex mentioned that she might referee for the peewee soccer league. The blonde immediately smiled and wished she could join in, but you had to be 16 before you could start. She couldn't help but smile as she imagined her girlfriend talking to the kids like they were grown-ups and calling them offsides when none of them even knew what that meant. It was taking a while for their food to arrive, so Piper looked around the room but immediately ducked as she saw Mr. and Mrs. Ritter sitting across the room. Her head was tucked under the table when Alex followed suit and made eye contact with her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Her voice was at a whisper, proving that she could tell Piper was hiding from someone.

"It's the Ritters. From brunch. My parent's friends." Piper had a pleading look in her eyes, knowing that they would have to make a quick escape to avoid being seen. Her gears were turning in her head but the best plan she could think of was to sneak over and ask for their food to go and hide in the bathroom. So that's what she did. Alex remained at the table so they didn't think they dined and dashed. It was about as solid of a plan as any. She crouched over toward the waiter.

Piper quickly paid the bill while muttering that they had to leave due to an emergency. She tipped well and asked for their meals as quickly as possible. The blonde sat in the bathroom and sent Alex a text saying she would meet her at the car when the food was out. She washed her hands and fiddled with her hair for a few minutes, figuring that if the date was pretty much ruined she should at least look good. Alex sent her a text saying she was at the car with the food and Piper made her quick escape, taking the long way to the door to weave through tables and avoid the Ritter couple. She ducked out the door and ran to the car that was waiting out on the street and she felt like she had just robbed a convenient store or something, but when she slammed the door behind her and Alex sped off they were both laughing so hard that the brunette had to quickly pull over to avoid hitting a telephone pole or passing car. Piper slammed her hand on the dashboard as she laughed and Alex rested her forehead on the steering wheel, laughing it out until a car pulled up behind them and honked. They realized they weren't on the side of the street and were actually in the right hand lane so Alex quickly pulled the car back out and drove off, both of them still gasping for air with tears in their eyes.

They ended up going to a hill over by the high school and parking at the very top. There was a beautiful view from the top so they climbed out of the car and onto the hood, to-go bags in hand. Piper had ordered them both steaks because that's what the restaurant was known for. Unfortunately, in her haste, Piper had forgotten to ask for a set of silverware. It wasn't the kind of restaurant that gave you a plastic fork in your to-go bag. They were nearly hundred dollar steaks and it would be shame to eat them cold, so after they struggled their way onto the hood in their heels and dresses, they decided to eat with their hands like cavemen.

"Oh my god, this is so good." Alex moaned through a mouthful of food. Piper had just taken a bite as well and nodded appreciatively at the taste. They ate slowly and carefully not to rush the moment that they were both enjoying more than expected.

"Do you think they saw us?" Alex asked after a few moments of silence. Piper was confident that they hadn't because not only did she manage to make it through the room without being stopped, but her mother probably would have already received a phone call and sent a search team after Piper by now. After all, that wasn't the kind of place two friends go for dinner dressed like that, and Carol's friends lived off gossip.

They ate their entire steaks without any trouble whatsoever, but felt reasonably full after the appetizers. Piper slid off the hood and wiped her hands on the grass, Alex following suit. They both sat back on the hood, scooting a little closer than before.

"Sorry that the night was kind of ruined." Piper looked down at her grassy hands as she picked at her fingernails. She had been so looking forward to the evening being perfect.

"Pipes." Alex grabbed her hand and rubbed her thumb along the back of it. "This was perfect. I mean, this was like the most _us_ date possible. It was perfect."

Piper couldn't help the smile that found its way onto her face because Alex was right. They weren't the type to go to fancy dinners and get dressed up. They were the type to eat hundred dollar steaks with their hands on the hood of Alex's car. That had always been and would always be their style.

"I love you." Piper whispered as she leaned in to kiss Alex. It was meant to be chaste, but before she knew it she was scooting closer and parting her lips, gently pressing her tongue into Alex's. They kissed for minutes or hours, Piper wasn't sure, but eventually they both pulled away panting, the blonde thankful that Alex knew she still wasn't comfortable having sex out in the open like this.

"Well what's the plan?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow, letting Piper's perfect date continue to play out.

"Well.. Uhh... I didn't really get that far in my planning. I figured I would think of something during dinner." Alex let out a hearty laugh and Piper bit her cheeks in a mix between happiness and embarrassment.

"Does that mean I get to pick?"

"I guess so. But I have to agree with you," Piper said skeptically, knowing that Alex could be pretty devious.

"I know what we should do. You'll like it, trust me." She slipped off the hood of the car and opened the trunk briefly before closing it again. They both sat in the car and she drove them to the college soccer field. Piper grinned as soon as she realized where they were going but kept quiet to let Alex have her moment.

The brunette hopped out quickly, opening Piper's door for her with a cheesy bow. Piper blushed and grabbed the soccer ball out of the trunk and they made their way to the field. They left their shoes sitting by the bleachers and Alex stole the ball before running off across the field. Piper stood in place for a few seconds and watched as Alex turned around to face her with a _what are you gonna do?_ look on her face before sprinting after her girlfriend.

Their dresses made playing a little more difficult but it was more fun than usual. Their feet were freezing and stained green from the grass but they played for hours and hours until they were a sweaty mess on the ground. Piper's phone rang from where they had left their shoes and she groaned but managed to stand up and jog over to answer before it went to voicemail.

It was Danny.

"Hey, Pipe?"

"Hi. What's up?"

"I just wanted to check on you. Are you staying at Alex's house?"

"Yeah I was planning on it. We kinda had to sneak out of the restaurant because the Ritters were there."

He laughed loudly at this.

"Like Mission Impossible shit?"

"Yeah, pretty much. It was fun though," the blonde responded with a smile.

"Alright, well I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Have fun, Pipe."

Piper hung up smiling, so grateful that her brother was there for her in a way her parents never were.

"What are you smiling about? You have a special someone you aren't telling me about?" Alex walked up behind Piper and wrapped her arms around her.

"Ew, no. It was Danny," Piper turned around and kissed Alex on the lips softly.

"You know what I want?" Alex asked against Piper's lips.

"Hmm. What?"

"Food." They both cracked up at this because they knew how insane their appetites were and that they probably shouldn't eat as much as they did, but if they were going to get fat and ruin their athletic figures they might as well do it together.

They grabbed their belongings and dumped everything in the trunk, shoes included.

"You know it's illegal to drive without shoes on," Piper informed Alex. She had been reading Danny's old driver's ed book in her spare time so she could get her license as soon as possible. And apparently driving barefoot was illegal.

"What, are you gonna give me a ticket?" Alex laughed. "It's probably safer than driving in heels."

Piper slowly nodded as she realized how reasonable her girlfriends response was.

They pulled up to a McDonalds, planning on going through the drive-thru but apparently it was closed.

"We can't go in like this!" Piper whined looking down at herself with her grass stained bare feet and fancy dress.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Alex didn't even give Piper a chance to argue as she walked toward the door, looking back over her shoulder expectantly. With a heavy sigh, she followed her girlfriend into the restaurant, looking around quickly and immediately feeling relieved when nobody she knew was there.

They ordered way more food than was healthy and Piper insisted on paying, since she was the one taking Alex out after all. They waited for their food and Piper was barely successful in keeping Alex out of the play area. She wasn't ready to get kicked out of a McDonalds dressed like this. Alex grabbed the food as soon as their number was called and they rushed back to the car, barely making it back to Alex's place without sneaking a few bites.

They s at cross legged on Alex's bed, still wearing their dresses but makeup removed and hair brushed.

"I thought they were called McGangBangs," Alex said thoughtfully as she turned her McDouble and McChicken combination around in her hand.

"I never had a name for them, I'm just saying that's nasty," Piper countered with a disgusted look on her face.

"Okay, fine, I won't call it that," Alex smiled and finished her not-McGangBang.

They stayed up late sitting on Alex's floor talking about all sorts of things: what to do for Piper's birthday that was coming up rather quickly, how fun it would be to watch Alex ref for the little kids all summer, how Piper would be able to get her permit in just over 6 months, and how they needed to study for finals together throughout the next week.

One moment they were talking and the next Piper was nudged awake by Alex after apparently falling asleep on her shoulder. She felt herself get lifted onto the bed and buried her face in Alex's neck, dramatically sniffing in her scent and then sighing contentedly. She relaxed onto her normal side of the bed and listened as Alex put a CD in to listen to as they drifted off to sleep.

Piper rolled onto her side and scooted back into Alex's front, thinking that she was actually glad how their date had turned out. They had more fun when it was just the two of them relaxing together eating fast food. They didn't need fancy dinners and expensive dates to have fun, they just needed each other.

 **A/N:**

 **yeah, that ending was corny as fuck. so i feel like the quality of writing for this story is getting worse and worse because i'm just not feeling very motivated. i had another idea for a story and kind of ran with it but i wanted to get this out first so you guys don't hate me for not finishing their date night. it's still short and i hate short chapters. i might just need a while for my inspiration to come back or something, but i don't like it when writing feels like homework and it's getting to that point with this story.**

 **i promise i won't leave you guys hanging though. i don't like unfinished stories. i'll keep updating as much as possible, but i don't want to ruin the story by writing shitty chapters to keep on schedule.**

 **oh, and before i forget again. THANK YOU for 100+ follows and exactly 99 reviews! i seriously can't even describe how amazing that feels. i didn't expect that at all, so wow. it makes me feel really bad for the way this story is pittering out, but i'm sure it'll pick back up soon.**

 **check out the first chapter to my new story if you want, i'm pretty happy with how it's turning out so far.**


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